.5°x> 



O, 



^ 
' ^ 



•^^, 



c:J> 



^- • 

i' o 



.^^%^. 



r^^^rA 



^.-^ 



^ m 



.^' 



i^ 



.^•^ 






t^^ ■, " " . -^ 









^ o • » - < o V . . , 




^mt • I^ 









>J ' ^ , , 






















Source Books of Emertcan Mistot^ 



The Legends of the Iroquois 



SOURCE BOOKS OF 
AMERICAN HISTORY 



Edited with notes arid introduction by 
RUFUS ROCKWELL WILSON 

Andrew Burnaby. Travels Througfh the Middle 
Settlements of North America, J 759-60 

Reprinted from the last (the third) edition of 1798 
Small 8vo, cloth, with map. $2.00 net. 

William Heath* Memoirs of the American War 

Reprinted from edition of 1798 
Small 8vo, cloth. $2.50 net. 

W» W. Canfield, Legfends of the Iroquois 

Small 8vo, cloth, illustrated. $1.50 net. 



IN PREPARATION 

William Moultrie. Memoirs of the American 
Revolution 

Freiin von ReideseL Letters and Journal 

Thomas J. Dimsdale* Vigilantes of Montana 

and others 

A. WESSELS COMPANY, NEW YORK 



T/ie Legends of the 
Iroquois 

TOLD BY **THE CORNPLANTER'' 



From Authoritative 
Notes and Studies 

<By WILLIAM T^, CANFIELD 




Ne<w York 

A* Wessets Company 

MCMII 



lUBRAJT^ ftf 0ON8i?tSS 

Tvw OoBWs ??eo9»ved 
OCT f!^ 1904 

ICtASe A- XXo, No. 
W B L. - li - J-iJvJ>. .«- — -» ■■'' '■«>' Ta g— 



CorTRIGHT. I<j02 
»Y 

A. We»8«ls Company 
New York 

(Pttilisked October, igo2) 
Copyright, 1904 

BY 

A. Wbssbis Company 
Nbtt York 



Contents 



About Indian Legends 9 

The Authority 15 

The Confederation of the Iroquois 23 

Birth of the Arbutus 41 

A Legend of the River , 47 

Legends of the Corn 51 

The First Winter 55 

The Great Mosquito 59 

The Story of Oniata 63 

The Mirror in the Water 73 

The Buzzard's Covering 77 

Origin of the Violet 81 

The Turtle Clan 85 

The Healing Waters ... 89 

The Sacrifice of Aliquipiso 99^ 

Why the Animals do not Talk 103 

The Message Bearers .....* 119 

The Wise Sachem's Gift > 123 

The Flying Head 125 

The Ash Tree 127 

The Hunter 129 

Hiawatha 137 

The Peacemaker 149 

An Unwelcome Visitor 155 

The Four Winds 1 59 

Bits of Folk-Lore 169 

The Happy Hunting-Grounds 177 

The Sacred Stone of the Oneidas 195 

Notes to the Legends 205 



About Indian Legends 



ABOUT INDIAN LEGENDS 




ABOUT INDIAN LEGENDS 

HE Indians neither built monuments nor 
wrote books. Tlie only records they 
made were those picture writings 
known in after years as wampum, 
which were mere symbols, recording feats of arms. 
Consequently, all that is known of them prior to the 
coming to America of Europeans is traditional or 
conjectural. Not a page of their history has ever 
been written by any save their foes, and the history 
thus written is so distorted and marred by prejudice 
that much of it is misleading. 

In the veins of the red man ran the wild poetry 
and imagination of the hunt, the chase, the battle, 
the capture, the dance, the forests, the valleys, 
the mountains, the streams, lakes and rivers, for a 
thousand generations; and yet they were without 
accomplishment in letters or arts. Is it, therefore, 
strange that they held in great reverence the tradi- 
tions and legends common in their tribes — revered 
them as the early Christians revered the first copies 
of the sacred writings ? These legends were told 
over again and again for unknown years. They 
[9] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

were transmitted from one to another, as the un- 
written work of Freemasonry has been transmitted — 
by frequent and careful repetition. They were not 
bandied about like ordinary stories, but, repeated 
with something of a religious or sacramental spirit, 
as though the tales imparted an especial virtue to 
those who learned them from reliable sources ; were 
held as sacred as we hold the transactions of an 
honored secret society. 

The legends common to one clan were known all 
over the continent wherever Indians of that clan 
lived, and there is little doubt that many of the 
legends of the Iroquois can be found in some form 
among those of the Western Indian tribes of the 
present time. Yet the traditions of the Iroquois 
herein contained are known positively to be two 
hundred years old, and are confidently believed to 
be the stories told by the red men thousands of 
years ago. 

The Indians never explained anything by the 
science of natural philosophy. Every effect had to 
them a mysterious, supernatural cause. They could 
not comprehend how sound thrown against an ob- 
structing surface would be repeated and form an 
echo. Instead they found supernatural reasons for the 
phenomenon, and certainly very pretty ones. Only 
[lol 



ABOUT INDIAN LEGENDS 



the absurdity of their ideas may appear to some, for 
in the light of present intelligence they are absurd, 
but, none the less, they are beautiful. If our fore- 
fathers had taken more interest in the peoples they 
found on the Western Continent, spending less of 
their energies in devising plans for cheating the In- 
dians out of their furs and lands — a policy their de- 
scendants have closely followed and admirably suc- 
ceeded in — our libraries might contain volumes o 
fairy tales that would delight the youth of many 
generations. 

It is not too much to ask the reader to remember 
that these stories were told in the homes of the red 
men many centuries ago, long before they learned 
from the whites the cruel, heartless, treacherous 
and vindictive characteristics that unfair history has 
fastened upon them as natural and inherent traits. 
If this is borne in mind, the perusal and study of 
these stories will, it is believed, give as much pleas- 
ure to the reader as the study of the Indian character, 
made necessary in order to properly clothe their 
almost forgotten legends with something like their 
original embellishment, has given the author. 



["] 



The Authority 



THE AUTHORITY 




THE AUTHORITY 

T is not the purpose of this volume to 
deal to any considerable extent with the 
history of the Indians, but simply to 
present some of the legends of the Iro- 
quois. To the reader or student, however, is due a 
brief statement as to the authority from which the 
folk-lore contained herein has been drawn, that there 
may remain no question as to its reliability. 

A few years after the close of the war of the 
Revolution one of the pioneers of Western New 
York, who was in the service of the Holland Land 
Company, made the acquaintance and won the 
friendship of the Seneca chief, the Cornplanter,, 
(Gy-ant-wah-chi, or, as written by some authorities, 
Gar-yan-wah-ga). The friendship continued as 
long as the two men lived and was marked by its 
cordiality. In their intercourse they were thrown 
together many winters, and the Cornplanter was 
led to talk freely of his people, their past, their 
present condition, and their future, and it was during 
these confidences that the Indian told his white 
friend many of the Iroquois legends. To the recol- 
[15] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

lections of the Cornplanter was added the knowl- 
edge possessed upon the subject by the Nephew 
(Governor Blacksnake), who resided upon the 
same reservation and in the immediate vicinity, and 
that of " other old men and leaders of these Indians." 
The legends were preserved in outline notes upon 
the blank pages of some diaries and civil engineer 
field-books which the white man was accustomed 
to keep ; and these outlines, with full oral explana- 
tions came finally into the possession of the present 
writer. About twenty-five years ago the work of 
their further verification by means of inquiries made 
of some of the most intelligent Indians in New York 
State was commenced. Many of those consulted 
had only imperfect knowledge of the legends, others 
knew one or more of the stories, and, by aid of the 
outlines referred to above, were able to assist in the 
work of their restoration. Among those who gave 
most valuable assistance was Simon Blackchief and 
his mother. The latter spoke only in the Indian 
tongue, and her version of such of the stories as she 
had heard in her girlhood was translated by her 
son. Chief John Mountpleasant, Harrison Halftown, 
Elias Johnson and John Kinjocity also gave valuable 
assistance. The late B. Giles Casler, who was the 
United States Indian Agent for New York State for 

[16] 



THE AUTHORITY 



a term of years, accompanied the author upon a 
number of visits to several of the reservations. 
Through these helps, and by a study pursued under 
the favoring circumstance of former residence in 
close proximity to the Allegany Reservation, the 
present writer believes that he has succeeded in 
bringing these legends to a point approximating 
their original beauty. In their elaboration care has 
been taken not to depart from the simplicity and 
directness of statement characteristic of the Indian, 
and only such additions that seemed to be warranted 
have been made. Whenever the primary authority 
for a legend is other than the Cornplanter, the fact 
is mentioned in the appended notes. 

Although the Cornplanter was a half-breed, he 
was more thoroughly acquainted with the traditions 
of his people than any contemporary chief in the 
nations comprising the Iroquois. He was born in 
Conewangus, on the Genesee river, probably in the 
year 1732, and died on Cornplanter Island in the Alle- 
gany river, in the State of Pennsylvania, near the New 
York line, March 7, 1836, at the age of one hundred 
and four years. He was the son of John Abeel (also 
written O'Bail), a trader among the Indians. His 
mother was an Indian Princess of the Turtle Clan. 

From his earliest recollection the Cornplanter had 
[17] 



/ 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

a pronounced hatred of the whites, caused, no 
doubt, by the remembrance of the cruel treatment to 
which his mother was subjected by his father, who 
seems to have taken an Indian wife in order that he 
might gain the friendship of the Indians, and thus 
secure good bargains in trade. The errors of his- 
tory have led us to believe that love or respect for 
a mother were sentiments almost foreign to the In- 
dian race. These feelings always existed among 
them, however, to a much greater degree than we 
are willing to concede, though their respect and 
love for women and children were greater before 
their simple natures were blunted and distorted by 
the vicious practices of the invading Europeans. 

The Cornplanter spent his early years at the coun- 
cil-fires, and became one of the most celebrated 
orators in the Confederation of the Six Nations. He 
traveled from village to village and sought wisdom 
from the sages of the Iroquois. It was during this 
portion of his life that he listened to the traditions 
that had descended from chiet to chief over a period 
of three centuries. When he had acquired a reputa- 
tion for bravery and woodcraft second to none of his 
race, he was unanimously chosen Chief of the Sene- 
cas, and came at once into prominence as the leader 
of the war-parties of that nation in alliance with the 
[18] 



THE AUTHORITY 



French against the English. . He was present at the 
defeat of Braddock, and, for a long time, by the most 
daring and cruel raids on the frontier settlements, 
spread destruction in the Mohawk Valley and in 
Western New York. He was at that time an im- 
placable foe to all white people, and the names of 
Cornplanter, Brant, and Red Jacket were synonomous 
with capture, torture and massacre. They were 
the chief councilors and leaders of their people and 
fought against every overture made by the whites. 
In 1779, near the mouth of Redbank Creek, in 
Pennsylvania, the Cornplanter, with a large force of 
Indians, engaged in battle against a party of whites, 
led by Captain Samuel Brady. The engagement 
terminated in favor of the whites, and many of the 
Indians were killed or wounded. The survivors 
fled to the river, then swollen with the spring rains, 
and dashed into its current. Few suceeeded in 
crossing; one by one they were swept down the 
stream or sank, pierced by the bullets of Brady's 
men. The Cornplanter reached the opposite shore 
almost alone. From that moment the high spirit of 
the daring chieftain began to falter and he sought 
peace, making, in 1791, a treaty with "The 
Great Chief of the Thirteen Fires." The medal and 
other mementoes given him by Washington are 
[19] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

still preserved by the descendants of the chief. He 
was put in possession of the island that bears his 
name, and ever afterwards devoted himself to farm- 
ing and pursuits of peace. For many years he 
labored faithfully to eradicate the habits of intem- 
perance into which his people had fallen, and, 
strange as it may seem, was the first temperance 
lecturer in the United States. He entertained the 
highest respect for Washington, and visited him 
several times in Philadelphia. 

It was during the last twenty years of the Corn- 
planter's life that the legends herein contained were 
recalled and told. He did not speak of them gener- 
ally, for he held them sacred, but reserved them for 
the ears of those in full sympathy with the people of 
which he was one of the last true representatives. 
He told them with an intensity of feeling that 
was pitiful, for it was plain he realized that the 
greatness of his people had disappeared, leaving 
neither monuments nor achievements to mark their 
place in the history of the world. 

The Cornplanter died a strong believer in the re- 
ligion of the red men, and looked forward with an 
eye of faith towards the Happy Hunting-Grounds, 
for which countless generations of his people had 
been taught to hope. 



^he Legends 




THE CONFEDERATION OF THE IROQUOIS 

THE CONFEDERATION OF THE 
IROQUOIS 

HERE was peace in the land of the 
Senecas. The red men were away 
upon the chase, or busied themselves 
in fashioning the arrow-points and in 
shaping the mighty bows from which the shafts of 
death were sent forth when food was needed in the 
wigwam. The Indian women stooped among the 
blades of growing corn and tilled the soil between 
the thrifty stalks with sharp-pointed branches from 
the strong young hickory. The children ran and 
leaped in the sunshine and their laughter filled the 
air and mingled with the low, crooning songs of 
the old men and women who watched them, while 
dreams of their youth rose like phantoms from the 
past. Under the fresh verdure of a new-born sum- 
mer, groups of the young men and maidens were 
plaiting the soft and flexible willows into baskets, 
mats and coverings. Abroad on the hills the medi- 
cine men roamed, marking the places where the 
prized and cherished herbs that drove away the bad 
spirits of suffering and sickness had put forth their 
vigorous shoots. 

[23J 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

There was peace in the land of the Senecas, and 
for many moons they had waged no war against 
their brothers. Their villages were growing in 
strength ; their numbers were increasing in great- 
ness. The young men were taught to follow the 
chase, but their ears had drunk the stories of wars, 
and their hearts burned to be upon the trail, seeking 
conquest over the powerful tribes of the Mohawks, 
Onondagas or Oneidas. When the soft winds 
came, some of them said to their elders, "We will 
go into the country of the Mohawks and learn from 
our brothers there if the Manito gave them corn for 
the winter, and if the venison was sweet to their 
tongues." 

Five suns they threaded the forests and sported 
along the pleasant streams. At last they came upon 
some young men and maidens of the Mohawk na- 
tion engaged in preparing the ground for the maize. 
Forgetting the counsels of their elders, or heedless 
of what they had said to them, and eager to show 
their cunning, they surprised and bound the young 
Mohawks and carried them away as captives toward 
the land of the Senecas. 

When they had passed the homes of the Ononda- 
gas, which they did without discovery, they re- 
leased one of the young men and told him to go 
[24] 



THE CONFEDERATION OF THE IROQUOIS 

back to the Mohawks and say to them that they 
would find their maidens in the wigwams of the 
Senecas, their young men slaves in the villages. 

The wise men and sachems of the council shook 
their heads gravely when the young warriors boasted 
of their conquest, for they knew that the peace of 
the Senecas was broken. 

A few days had passed, when, one evening as the 
fires began to cast their red lights against the rough 
sides of the great trees, five Mohawk warriors ap- 
peared at the council village of the Senecas. 

"Let the swift runners say to the chiefs of the 
Senecas that the warriors of the Mohawks have been 
long upon the trail and must not sleep. By the 
light of the council-fire they would tell the message 
that is sweet to the tongues of the Mohawks but 
which will burn the ears of the Senecas who listen." 
Thus spoke Orontadeka, the strong chief of the 
Mohawks, as he strode to the council-place of the 
Senecas, followed by the four solemn and deter- 
mined sachems who accompanied him on the mis- 
sion. They at once took seats upon the ground 
and in silence awaited the coming of the Senecas. 

Soon the fire-keepers of the tribe came to the 
council-place, and with due ceremony started three 
fires. When the last was lighted, the Seneca chiefs, 
[25] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

sachems and warriors took their stations in silence 
around the blazing resinous wood. Dark forms 
hurried from the well-beaten paths which led 
through the forest to the different villages of the 
Senecas, and, without a word or sign of recogni- 
tion, the warriors who had been notified by the 
swift runners and had come from their distant 
homes, took their places by the council-fire. At 
length, when all had assembled, the Seneca chief, 
Kanyego, arose and said : 

"Will the great chiefs of the Mohawks eat ?" 

"The Mohawks have heavy trouble on their 
hearts and the food of the Senecas would choke 
their voices," replied Orontadeka. 

"Shall the bowl of the pipe be filled, that the 
Mohawks may be happy in its visions?" again 
asked Kanyego. 

" The Mohawks would see clearly, and the clouds 
from the peacemaker might blind their eyes," was 
the reply. 

"The Senecas have food for their brothers, the 
Mohawks, and the fire-keepers have in readiness 
the pipe that the Great Spirit gave to our fathers," 
said Kanyego. "The Senecas also have ears to 
hear what the Mohawks would say. Let Oronta- 
deka speak." 

[26] 



THE CONFEDERATION OF THE IROQUOIS 

Rising suddenly from his crouching position on 
the ground, Orontadeka walked rapidly around the 
council-fires several times and then addressed the 
assemblage : 

"My Brothers: When the warm suns came and 
the death-sheets of snow that covered the ground 
were turned to leaping streams of laughing water, 
the Mohawks were happy in their homes, where 
Kanyego has many times smoked the pipe of peace 
and eaten the food given him by his brothers. The 
plague had not come from its home in the north 
during the winter, and the wigwams were fat with 
their store of corn and beans. The swift runners 
went away to the shining waters beyond the big 
mountains, and after many suns they returned to say 
that the enemies of the Mohawks had gone beyond 
the great pine trees and would plant and till new 
fields and follow the chase in strange forests. 

"My Brothers: The Mohawks were happy, for 
their wigwams had need to be made greater, and 
there is much work for the men to do. The women 
and children sang because the warriors went not 
upon the trail, and the old men turned their thoughts 
to the passing of peaceful days in the villages. Sud- 
denly an alarm came to our ears, and the hopes in 
our hearts fled in terror. As the red fox steals upon 
[27] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

the nest of the partridge and carries her chickens 
away to his home in the rocks, so came those who 
should be our friends and took as prisoners three of 
our young men and their five sisters. When the 
great light drew within the door of his wigwam, 
the people in the village looked in vain for the com- 
ing of their children. The grief of the lonely parents 
whose children were lost went out to all our vil- 
lages. After seven suns a party of our warriors 
came upon one of the young men wandering alone 
and without food in the forest. Then to our won- 
dering ears came the story that his brothers were 
slaves in the land of the Senecas, and that his sisters 
had become the wives of the Seneca robbers. 

*' My Brothers: The council fire was lighted at 
night, for the Mohawks must talk of war. Gwa- 
gonsha stood before his people and told them how 
he had heard the birds and the wind talking to- 
gether in the tree-tops, and how they agreed be- 
tween them that the Senecas had wandered away 
toward the warm lands, and the wolves now lived 
in their deserted lodges. Owennogon said that 
even the fishes knew that the Senecas were afraid 
to seek their slaves in the Cat Nation beyond the 
thundering waters, and for that reason they had 
sent out scouts to steal children. Kanentagoura 
[28] 



THE CONFEDERATION OF THE IROQUOIS 

stood before the council-fire and said that the wo- 
men of the Senecas were no longer young, but 
came into the world with many moons upon their 
heads, while their backs were bent with age, and 
wrinkles were upon their faces. If the Seneca war- 
riors would have wives they must steal them from 
the Mohawks, the Onondagas or the Oneidas, for 
they had no wampum or canoes with which to buy 
them. Kantaga told his people that their arrows 
must be made ready and the thongs of their bows 
must be strengthened. If the Senecas had gone 
away to the warm lands, and wolves had taken 
possession of their villages, the wolves must be 
killed, for they were dangerous animals. If the 
Senecas had become cowards and were afraid to 
seek their slaves in the Cat Nation, they should be 
killed, for the earth had no room upon it for cow- 
ards. Or, if the women of the Senecas were such 
monsters that they could not be taken as wives, 
and the Senecas had no wampum or canoes with 
which to buy maidens for their wigwams, then 
they must surely be killed, for the Great Spirit was 
displeased with them. 

*' My Brothers: The warriors of the Mohawks set 
out at once through the forest-paths for the land of 
the Senecas, and when they reached the village of the 
[29] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

Onondagas they told them the cause of their jour- 
ney, and the warriors of the Onondagas left their 
lodges to the care of the old men and women and 
followed the Mohawks on the trail. They remain 
beside the long waters while Orontadeka and his 
friends visit the council-fire of the Senecas. We 
look around us and we find that some of the stories 
told of the Senecas are not true. The Senecas still 
inhabit their own lodges, and have not been driven 
away by wolves. Upon your streams and lakes 
are plenty of canoes, and in the wigwams hang 
many strings of wampum. The women of the 
Senecas are not old and ugly, for we see maidens 
here whose eyes are like the fires lighted by the 
Great Spirit when the sun has gone in his wig- 
wam, and whose forms are straight as the ash 
trees. 

" But we know that the young men of the Mo- 
hawks were made slaves in the villages of the Sene- 
cas, and that the Mohawk maidens are now the 
wives of your young chiefs. We are full of sorrow. 
We have not sought war, and we know that much 
suffering must be the result, for the warriors of the 
Mohawks and the Onondagas are many and their 
arrows are long. They will burn your villages and 
send many of your warriors to their long journey. 
[30] 



THE CONFEDERATION OF THE IROQUOIS 

Your wives and little ones will be driven helpless 
into the forest, and your old men will speak wis- 
dom only to the fishes. The Senecas are child- 
stealers and cowards, and the Mohawks and Onon- 
dagas will drive them to the warm lands, where 
they can wear the tobacco pouches of the women 
and become slaves." 

A murmur of sharp anger ran through the crowd 
of listening Senecas when these bold words were 
spoken by Orontadeka. A sudden gesture of Kan- 
yego, chief of the Senecas, suppressed it, however, 
and he rose to make his reply. For a long time he 
stood silent, with folded arms and bent head, and 
then he said: 

''My Brothers: When Orontadeka, the Mohawk, 
has walked forth in the forest and has watched 
the young of the bear at play, he has seen that 
they are never still, but are full of life and daring 
deeds, even though their parents reprove them 
with harsh voices. So has my brother seen the 
fawns run like the wind across the plains, darting 
back and forth as though they could never tire, un- 
til their elders draw in a circle about them and will 
not let them out. My brother knows that the 
young men are as full of life as the young animals, 
and, like the storms, cannot be restrained in their 
[31] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

course by those who look upon their destructive 
ways with fear. 

" When the young men of the Senecas journeyed 
on the trail they were counseled by their elders to 
be wise, but their ears were stopped and their eyes 
were closed to the dangers that lay in their path. 
They forgot what had been told them, and from the 
homes of the Mohawks they brought maidens for 
their wigwams. They had fears that the young 
Mohawk braves would be lost in the forest without 
the maidens to guide them, and so they led them to 
the land of the Senecas, where they might be taught 
to fashion the bow and be of use to the women in 
keeping the birds from the corn. The chiefs and 
sachems of the Senecas were not pleased that their 
young warriors should have done this, but young 
men should never be punished for deeds of bravery, 
even when they have forgotten the wise counsel of 
the old men, lest they become cowards. 

"My Brothers: If the Mohawks had come to the 
council-fire of the Senecas and asked that canoes 
and wampum and the warm furs of the bear and 
the beaver be given them for their maidens the 
council would have heeded their request, for have 
we not plenty ? Even the young Mohawks would 
have been returned to the care of their fathers, so 
[32] 



THE CONFEDERATION OF THE IROQUOIS 

that they might be kept safe and not become wan- 
derers where the wolves and panthers might harm 
them. But the Mohawks have not thought best to 
do this, and have come to the council-fire at night, 
when only war can be talked. They have refused 
to eat the food offered them by the Senecas, and 
when the fire-keepers would light the peace-pipe, 
they turned their heads. They come to tell us that 
the warriors of the Mohawks have aroused the war- 
riors of the Onondagas, who are now upon the trail, 
ready and waiting to destroy the homes of the Sene- 
cas, and anxious to drive us from the land the Great 
Spirit gave us. 

''When the red men of the valley have come to 
the council-fire of the Senecas without threats of 
war in their mouths they have always been wel- 
come, and when they had talked they departed in 
peace. But now they come as spies and say that 
we are cowards, and bring the Mohawk and Onon- 
daga warriors behind them to destroy our villages. 
For this reason let the Mohawk chiefs remain at our 
council-fire and the young Mohawk men and women 
will be brought to keep them company. If the 
warriors of the Mohawks and Onondagas come too 
close to the village of the Senecas they will see 
Orontadeka and his friends start forth on the long 
133} 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

journey, and they will know that many will be sent 
to follow the same trail." 

The Mohawks were wholly unprepared for this 
turn of affairs, which must have been agreed upon 
by the Senecas before the council opened. They 
were quickly bound as prisoners. When the dawn 
broke the five Mohawk chiefs, with the maidens 
and young men who had been stolen from their 
homes, were held under a strong guard on a slight 
eminence near the village, and the order had been 
given that if the invading warriors approached the 
village Orontadeka and his fellow-prisoners should 
at once be put to death. Scores of Seneca scouts 
were scouring the woods in every direction, and a 
young Seneca, fearless of the dangers to which he 
was exposed, had long ago started on his way to 
the camp of the superior force to inform them that 
the Mohawk chiefs were held as hostages. He ful- 
filled his mission and was at once made a prisoner. 

In the Seneca village all was activity. The women 
and children were making ready to hurry away un- 
der guard, while the warriors were planning am- 
buscades, in order that they might hold back the 
attacking force as long as possible and cover the 
escape of their women and children toward the 
south. 

[34 J 



THE CONFEDERATION OF THE IROQUOIS 

The sun rose higher in the heavens and the scouts 
of the Senecas returned one by one from the forest, 
telling of the advance of a great war-party of Mo- 
hawks and Onondagas. Nearer and nearer they ap- 
proached, evidently believing that their great num- 
bers rendered caution unnecessary, and that the 
Senecas would either flee in panic or sue for peace 
at whatever terms the invaders might dictate. A 
short distance from the village a party of five Sene- 
cas came forward to meet them, and in loud voices 
warned their foes to approach no nearer if they 
would save the lives of their chiefs and of the Indian 
boys and girls held as prisoners with them. A halt 
was called and the attacking party was upon the 
point of parleying with the Senecas when the voice 
of Orontadeka was heard : 

''The Senecas should be driven away by the 
warriors of the Mohawks and the Onondagas," he 
cried, ''for not only are they child-stealers and 
cowards, but traitors, who have forgotten that the 
Great Spirit made the council-fire and commanded 
that it should not be violated. Orontadeka is ready 
to go on his long journey. Let the warriors ad- 
vance and see the cowards run through the forest. 
Orontadeka and his friends will teach them how to 
die." 

[3Sl 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

The guards over the captive Mohawks seized 
their victims and raised their heavy stone-hatchets 
to strike the death-blows. The Mohawks and 
Onondagas knew that advance on their part 
meant certain death to their chiefs and the other 
prisoners, but they prepared to go forward with a 
rush. 

Then the voice of one of the young Mohawk girls 
rose in a cry that fastened the attention of the war- 
riors of both parties. Her gaze was directed toward 
the sun, and from her lips came words that carried 
fear and consternation to all their hearts. 

"See, see, my Brothers! The Great Spirit hides 
his smiling face and will not look upon the battle 
of the red men. He will go away and leave them 
in darkness if they burn the villages and with their 
poisoned arrows send the hunters and the women 
and the children on their long journey before they 
have been called. Look thou, my brothers, he has 
seen the Mohawk maidens happy in the lodges of 
the Senecas, and he will not look upon them in 
misery and death. He hides his face, my brothers! 
He hides his face!" 

A moan of terrible fear went up from the war- 
riors — men who could meet death on the chase or 
in the battle with a smile were unnerved by that 
[36] 



THE CONFEDERATION OF THE IROQUOIS 

awful spectacle. They saw a black disc moving 
forward over the face of an unclouded sun. 

The guards released their prisoners and fell at 
their feet. Mohawks, Senecas and Onondagas 
mingled, imploring each other for pardon and pro- 
testing the most profound friendship. The Seneca 
women and children hurried from the woods, 
where they had been in hiding, and lent their voices 
to the general clamor of fear. The wild, savage 
faces, streaked with the various colored earths and 
pigments, were turned in fearful apprehension to- 
ward the fast-darkening heavens, becoming wilder 
and more savage by the terrible fear that filled them. 
The sachems and wise men hid their faces in their 
fur robes, and the warriors groveled in terror upon 
the ground. The eagle, the hawk and flocks of 
smaller birds darted blindly among the branches of 
the trees, while strange cries of alarm and distress 
came from every side. The panther and the bear 
ran whimpering and whining with the rabbit; the 
fox and other denizens of the forest sought the 
frightened red men for protection, or lay trembling 
and panting under the cover of some prostrate giant 
of the forest. 

On, on crept that fearful black shadow, eating its 
way into the disc of the beautiful sun, like a mighty 
[37] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

demon that had come to blot out of existence the 
source of light and warmth and life, while over the 
fresh and budding earth spread the ghostly gloom 
that never fails to inspire the most careless observer 
with awe. The flowers that filled the woods with 
such profusion closed as though night had suddenly 
fallen upon them ; the warmth and fragrance of the 
day that had opened with such glory gave way to 
the damps of evening, while the stars and planets 
appeared again in the heavens. Over the whole 
face of nature was thrown an unearthly, cadaverous 
hue, and in the sudden chill everything was cold 
and sodden with the falling dew. 

At last, through that awful gloom, the frightened 
and trembling red men saw the once tall and erect, 
but now bent and tottering, form of Sagoyountha, 
the aged sachem of the Senecas, creeping forth from 
his wigwam. Reaching the center of the terror- 
stricken assemblage, the aged man appeared to be 
suddenly endowed with the vigor of youth, and 
stood before them like a mighty warrior, while his 
scarred and wrinkled face, upon which had beaten 
the storms of more than a hundred winters, was 
turned toward the dread spectacle in the heavens, the 
like of which even Sagoyountha had never looked 
upon. His voice rang once more with the clear 
[38] 



THE CONFEDERATION OF THE IROQUOIS 

tones that had awakened the echoes of the forests 
long before any of his listeners were born, and it 
sounded strangely sharp and loud in the awesome 
silence that prevailed. 

"My children, Sagoyountha speaks to you in the 
voice of the past, but his eyes are looking into the 
future. The Great Spirit is angry with his children, 
for he would have them live in peace. He has 
drawn the door of his wigwam before his smiling 
face, and his children will see him no more, unless 
they smoke the pipe that he gave their fathers 
when he sent them forth from the Happy Hunting- 
Grounds. Sagoyountha has spoken. Will his 
children hear his voice ? " 

Kanyego sprang from the ground as though 
stung by an adder, and, crouching low, ran rapidly 
to the village. He was absent but a few moments, 
and came running once more to the circle of chiefs, 
bearing in his hands the sacred pipe, in which was 
glowing the fragrant tobacco. From one to another 
it was hastily passed, while the anxious faces were 
upturned in mute appeal towards the darkened sun. 

Look! ah, look! The aged Sagoyountha reaches 
out his arms in supplication, and the bright and 
dazzling edge of the beautiful orb of day once more 
appears ! 

[39] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 



Shouts of joy arise from the red men, while the 
women and children cry aloud with gladness, as 
hope once more comes to their hearts. The aged 
Sagoyountha sinks to the ground, and, with feeble 
voice and trembling lips, commences the chanting 
of his death-song. Fainter and fainter are the 
words borne upon the air as the light of the sun in- 
creases, and, finally, the breathless throng lose the 
tones wafted back from the journeying spirit as it 
reaches the very portals of the Happy Hunting- 
Grounds. 

In the light of the twice-dawned day, and in the 
presence of the sacred dead, who had pointed out 
to the red men the path by which to escape the dis- 
pleasure of their Father, the Confederacy of the 
Iroquois was formed. 



[40] 




BIRTH OF THE ARBUTUS 



BIRTH OF THE ARBUTUS 

ANY, many moons ago there lived an 
old man alone in his lodge beside a 
frozen stream in the great forest beyond 
the wide waters of the northern lakes, 
locks were long and white with age and 
frost. The fur of the bear and cunning beaver 
covered his body, but none too warmly, for snow 
and ice were everywhere. Over all the earth there 
was winter. The winds came down the bleak 
mountain sides and wildly hurried through the 
branches of the trees and bushes, looking for song- 
birds that they might chill to the heart. Even the 
evil spirits shivered in the desolation and sought to 
dig for themselves sheltering caves in the deep 
snow and ice. Lonely and halting the old man 
went abroad in the forest, looking for the broken 
branches that had fallen from the trees that he might 
keep alive the fire in his lodge. Few fagots could he 
find, and in despair he again sought his lodge, where, 
hovering over the fading embers on his hearth, he 
cried in anguish to the Great Spirit that he might 
not perish. 

[41] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

Then the wind moaned in the tree-tops and cir- 
cling through the forests came back and blew aside 
the skin of the great bear hanging over his lodge 
door, and, lo! a beautiful maiden entered. Her 
cheeks were red like the leaves of wild roses; her 
eyes were large and glowed like the eyes of the 
fawn at night; her hair was black as the wing of 
the crow, and so long that it brushed the ground 
as she walked. Her hands were clad in willow 
buds; over her head was a crown of flowers; her 
mantle was woven with sweet grasses and ferns, 
and her moccasins were white lilies, laced and em- 
broidered with the petals of honeysuckle. When 
she breathed, the air of the lodge became warm, 
and the cold winds rushed back in affright. 

The old man looked in wonder at his strange 
visitor, and then opened his lips and said: ''My 
daughter, thou art welcome to the poor shelter of 
my cheerless lodge. It is lonely and desolate, and 
the Great Spirit has covered the fallen branches of 
the trees with his death-cloth that I may not find 
them and light again the fire of my lodge. Come, 
sit thou here and tell me whom thou art that thou 
dost wander like the deer in the forest. Tell me 
also of thy country and what people gave thee such 
beauty and grace, and then I, the desolate Manito, 

[42] 



BIRTH OF THE ARBUTUS 

will tell thee of my victories till thou dost weary of 
my greatness." 

The maiden smiled, and the sunlight streamed 
forth and shot its warmth through the roof of the 
lodge. The desolate Manito filled his pipe of friend- 
ship, and when he had drawn of the fragrant to- 
bacco, he said: "When 1, the Manito, blow the 
breath from my nostrils the waters of the river 
stand still, the great waves on the lakes rest, 
and the murmurings of the streams die away in 
silence." 

Then the maiden said: "The Manito is great and 
strong and the waters know the touch of his breath ; 
but when I, the loved of the birds, smile, the flowers 
spring up over all the forest and the plains are cov- 
ered with a carpet of green." 

Then said the Manito: "I shake my locks, and 
lo! the earth is wrapped in the death-cloth of snow." 

Then the maiden replied: " I breathe into the air 
and the warm rains come and the death-cloth van- 
ishes like the darkness when the great fire awakens 
from its bed in the morning." 

Then the Manito said : "When 1 walk about, the 
leaves die on the trees and fall to the ground ; the 
birds desert their nests and fly away beyond the 
lakes; the animals bury themselves in holes in the 

[43] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

earth or in caves in the mountain side, and the 
winds wail the death-chant over all the land." 

"Ah, great is the Manito," said the maiden, 
*'and his mighty name is feared by all living things 
in the land. 'Great is the Manito,' says all the 
world, and his fame has spread among the children 
of the Great Spirit till they crouch with fear and 
say: 'Mighty and cruel is the Manito! Terrible is 
the Manito, and more cruel and cunning in his tor- 
II tures than the red men. His strength is greater 

than the strength of the giant trees of the forest, for 
does he not rend them with his mighty hands .^' 
But when I, the gentle maiden, walk forth, the trees 
cover with many leaves the nakedness which thou, 
the great Manito, hath caused; the birds sing in the 
branches and build again the nests from which thou 
drivest them ; the animals seek their mates and rear 
their young; the wind sings soft and pleasant music 
to the ears of the red man, while his wives and 
papooses sport in the warm sunshine near his 
wigwam." 

As the maiden spoke, the lodge grew warm and 
bright, but the boasting Manito heeded it not, for 
his head drooped forward on his breast, and he 
slept. 

Then the maiden passed her hands above the 

[44] 



BIRTH OF THE ARBUTUS 



Manito's head and he began to grow small. The 
blue birds came and filled the trees about the lodge 
and sang, while the rivers lifted up their waters 
and boiled with freedom. Streams of water poured 
from the Manito's mouth, and the garments that 
covered his shrunken and vanishing form turned 
into bright and glistening leaves. 

Then the maiden knelt upon the ground and took 
from her bosom most precious and beautiful rose- 
white flowers. She hid them under the leaves all 
about her, and as she breathed with love upon 
them, said: 

**I give to you, oh! precious jewels, all my vir- 
tues and my sweetest breath, and men shall pluck 
thee with bowed head and on bended knee." 

Then the maiden moved over the plains, the hills 
and the mountains. The birds and the winds sang 
together in joyous chorus, while the flowers lifted 
up their heads and greeted her with fragrance. 

Wherever she stepped, and nowhere else, grows 
the arbutus. 



[45] 




THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 



A LEGEND OF THE RIVER 

*ANY hundred moons ago there dwelt 
among the Senecas a maiden named 
Tonadahwa, whom every young chief 
coveted to grace his wigwam. One of 
the young braves of her tribe had won her heart by 
imperiling his life to save her from impending dan- 
ger, and to none other would she listen. Her 
smiles were all for her hero, and her eyes lighted 
like the sunbeams when he was near. 

One day the maiden was urging her canoe swiftly 
along the river, little thinking that great danger 
awaited her and threatened her life and happiness. 
Darting along the bank of the stream, unseen by 
Tonadahwa, was a young Seneca warrior, who had 
been a suitor for her hand, but whom she had 
spurned and avoided. Her light canoe had borne 
her far from the village of the Senecas, when she 
suddenly heard what she supposed was the call of 
her lover on the shore. Resting on her paddle, 
Tonadahwa listened and again heard the welcome 
call that deepened the rich color in her rounded 
cheeks. Answering with a cry of joy, she headed 

[47] 



A LEGEND OF THE RIVER 

the canoe toward the bank, and with a few 
strokes sent it gliding underneath the overhanging 
branches. 

But it was not the form of Tonadahwa's lover 
that sprang suddenly into the canoe. It was that 
of the dark and angry rival, and she saw in his face 
a look of evil triumph. 

The maiden uttered no shriek, gave expression to 
no surprise, though her eyes darkened and her 
cheeks assumed a duskier hue. With an exclamation 
that almost drove hope from Tonadahwa's heart, the 
hated lover caught the paddle from her hands and 
sent the light craft rapidly towards the middle of 
the stream. 

Suddenly a bright object cleft the air and an arrow 
sped from the bank of the river and buried itself be- 
tween the shoulders of the cowardly abductor as he 
bent forward to clasp the shrinking maiden in his 
arms. With a cry, the defeated rival leaped into 
the river, hurling the paddle from him as he sprang, 
and with his last remaining effort pushed the canoe 
and its occupant far out into the rapid current. The 
whirling, seething rapids caught the helpless craft 
and bore it onward with terrific speed. Tonadahwa 
waved a farewell to her lover, and, chanting her 
death-song, which the pines along the shore caught 
[48] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

and whispered, the canoe went flying amid the mist 
and spray of that roaring tide. 

Green as the emerald, save where whipped into 
white foam or enshrouded in mist, the river rushed 
on, and the frail canoe, tossed as a plaything at the 
sport of the current, was whirled onward until lost 
in the roar and tumult of the impetuous flood. 

Like the wind the despairing lover flew along 
the shore to the high banks overlooking the falls. 
There he paused a moment until the canoe and its 
precious freight were lost to view. Then, raising 
his arms a moment toward the Happy Hunting- 
Grounds, he leaped into the fearful abyss. 

But amid the pelting spray and beating flood ap- 
peared myriads of shadowy forms— spirits of the 
mighty braves who long before had found the land of 
pleasant forests. Swiftly, yet gently, they lowered 
the form of the hero until he stood unharmed be- 
neath the fall of roaring water, and received in his 
arms the unconscious form of Tonadahwa, which 
was held by the braves to await his coming. 

Clinging to the broken rocks, buffeted and blinded 
by the awful flood, the daring and triumphant 
Seneca bore his loved burden to a place of safety 
and watched with thankfulness her return to con- 
sciousness and life. 

[49] 



A LEGEND OF THE RIVER 

The pine trees ever after gently murmured Tona- 
dahwa's song, and, mingled with the roar of waters, 
listening lovers through all succeeding time can 
often hear the strange, weird cry of Tonadahwa's 
lover as he plunged headlong after the beloved 
maiden. 



[so] 



LEGENDS OF THE CORN 




LEGENDS OF THE CORN 

'N old and honored chief went alone to 
the top of a high mountain to meet 
the Great Spirit. The chief told the 
Great Spirit that the red men were 
tired of the roots and herbs which, with the fruits 
that grew on the trees and the bushes, made up their 
food, and he asked the Father to send them some 
of the food used in the Happy Hunting-Grounds. 
The Great Spirit told the chief to take his wives and 
papooses and go forth in the moon of rains and 
stand on one of the plains, not moving from the 
place where they stopped for the space of three 
suns. Then the Great Spirit would come and give 
the Indians food. The chief went back to his people 
and told them what he had heard from the Great 
Spirit. When the moon of rains came they did as 
the chief had been directed. In three suns all had 
fallen asleep. They were left undisturbed by the 
Indians, for this peculiar manifestation was regarded 
as a mark of especial favor. In a few weeks the 
old chief and the members of his family had changed 
into luxuriant green plants. The council assembled, 
Csi] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

sent the wise men to visit the field, and what they 

found there was corn. 

******* 

Long and earnestly a young brave wooed a beau- 
tiful maiden, and at last gained her consent to live 
with him in his wigwam. But the days and nights 
were lonely without her and the young brave could 
not remain away from her lodge. Fearing that she 
might be stolen by one of her many admirers, or 
that danger might come to her, he slept at night in 
the forest that he might be near to protect her. One 
night he was awakened by a light footstep and, 
starting up, saw his loved one stealing out of her 
lodge as a sleep-walker. He pursued her, but, as 
if fleeing in her dreams from a danger that threat- 
ened her life, she ran from him, speeding through 
the paths like the fleet-footed hare. On and on he 
followed, and finally drew so near that he could 
hear her quick breath and the rapid beating of her 
heart. With all his remaining strength the lover 
sprang forward and clasped the maiden's form to 
his breast. What was his grief and astonishment 
when he found that his arms clasped, not the maiden 
he loved, but a strange plant the like of which he 
had never seen before. The maiden had awakened 
just as her lover overtook her, and had been so 
[52] 



LEGENDS OF THE CORN 



frightened at her surroundings that she was trans- 
formed. She had raised her arms to her head just 
as her lover caught her, and her uplifted hands were 
changed into ears of corn, and where her fingers 
caught her hair the maize bears beautiful silken 
threads. 



[53] 



THE FIRST WINTER 




THE FIRST WINTER 

HERE was a time when the days were 
always of the same length, and it was 
always summer. The red men lived 
continually in the smile of the Great 
Spirit, and they were happy. But there arose a 
chief who was so powerful that he at last declared 
himself mightier than the Great Spirit, and taught 
his brothers to go forth to the plains and mock the 
Great Spirit. They would call upon the Great Spirit 
to come and fight with them, or would challenge 
him to take away the crop of growing corn, or 
drive the game from the woods ; they would say he 
was an unkind father to keep to himself and their 
dead brothers the Happy Hunting-Grounds, where 
the red men could hunt forever without weariness. 
They laughed at their old men, who had feared for 
so many moons to reproach the Great Spirit for his 
unfair treatment of the Indians, who were compelled 
to hunt and fish for game for their wives and chil- 
dren, while their women had to plant the corn and 
harvest it. "In the Happy Hunting-Grounds, " they 
said, " the Great Spirit feeds our brothers and their 
C5S] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

wives and does not let any foes or dangers come 
upon them, but here he lets us go hungry many 
times. If he is as great as you have said, why does 
he not take care of his children here ?" 

Then the Great Spirit told them he would turn 
his smiling face away from them, so that they should 
have no more light and warmth, and must build 
fires in the forests if they would see. 

But the red men laughed and taunted him, telling 
him that he had followed one trail so long that he 
could not get out of it, but would have to come 
every day and give them light and heat. Then they 
would dance and make faces at him and taunt him 
with his helplessness. 

In a few days the quick eyes of some of the red 
men saw in the morning the face of the Great Spirit 
appear where it was not wont to appear, but they 
were silent, fearing the jibes of their brothers. Fi- 
nally duller eyes noticed the change, and alarm and 
consternation spread among the people. Each day 
brought less and less of the Great Spirit's smile and 
his countenance was often hidden by dark clouds, 
while terrible storms beat upon the frightened faces 
turned in appeal toward the heavens. The strong 
braves and warriors became as women ; the old men 
covered their heads with skins and starved in the 
[56] 



THE FIRST WINTER 



forests; while the women in their lodges crooned 
the low, mournful wail of the death-song, and the 
papooses crawled among the caves in the rocks 
and mountains and died unheeded. Frosts and 
snows came upon an unsheltered and stricken race, 
and many of them perished. 

Then the Great Spirit, who had almost removed 
his face from the sight of the red men, had pity, and 
told them he would come back. Day after day the 
few that remained alive watched with joy the return 
of the sun. They sang in praise of the approaching 
summer, and once more hailed with thankfulness 
the first blades of growing corn as it burst from the 
ground. The Great Spirit told ^his children that 
every year, as a punishment for the insults they had 
given their Father, they should feel for a season the 
might of the power they had mocked; and they 
murmured not, but bowed their heads in meekness. 

From the bodies of those who had perished of 
cold and hunger sprang all manner of poisonous 
plants, which spread themselves over the earth to 
vex and endanger the lives of the Indians of all 
generations; and in after years when any of the 
Indians from any reason "ate of the fatal root," it 
was said of them that they had * * eaten of the bodies 
of their brothers who had defied the Great Spirit." 
[57] 



THE GREAT MOSQUITO 




THE GREAT MOSQUITO 

N immense bird preyed upon tiie red 
men in all parts of the country. Their 
homes were at no time safe from its 
ravages. Often it would carry away 
children playing beside the wigwams, or, like a bolt 
of lightning, dart from the sky and strike a woman 
or man bleeding and dying to the earth. Whole 
fields of corn had been destroyed in a single night 
by its ravages, and its coming was so swift and 
terrible that the Indians hardly dared stir from the 
shelter of their houses. A strong party of Cayugas 
and Onondagas finally determined upon its death, 
no matter at what cost to themselves. A young 
warrior offered himself for the sacrifice. He was 
provided with a quantity of raw-hide thongs, and 
repaired to one of the open spaces, where it was 
believed the dreaded monster would discover and 
descend upon him. The young brave was to bind 
one of the thongs upon the bird's feet or upon some 
portion of its body, if possible, before he killed 
him, and then his companions, rushing from their 
place of concealment, would try to slay the enemy 
[59] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

that had been snared with such difficulty. The 
preparations were elaborately made, and the young 
brave went forth on his dangerous mission. 

Three days he sat, chanting his death-song and 
awaiting the coming of his terrible fate. On the 
morning of the fourth day the sky was suddenly 
darkened and the watchers saw that the great bird 
was slowly circling above the heroic young Cayuga. 
He ceased his chanting, and, standing upright, 
shouted defiance to the almost certain death that 
awaited him. 

With a scream that turned the hearts of the wait- 
ing Indians cold with terror, the bird dropped upon 
its victim like a panther on his prey. A short and 
terrible struggle took place and then the concealed 
warriors rushed forth to finish the work of their 
brave young companion, who had succeeded in 
throwing one of the thongs over the great mos- 
quito's neck. They brought willing and ready 
hands to the battle, and the arrows poured upon 
the struggling mass like a storm of hail. After a 
long encounter the bird was killed, and the young 
Cayuga smiled in triumph as his last glance rested 
upon the dead body of the monster. 

Runners were at once dispatched to the villages 
to inform the Indians of the victory, and soon vast 
£60] 



THE GREAT MOSQUITO 



numbers of them came to look upon their long- 
dreaded enemy that had been slain at such cost. 
Its body was larger than that of the largest bear 
they had ever seen, and the breadth of its out- 
stretched wings was as great as the height of three 
men. Its talons were as long as arrows, and its 
monstrous beak was lined with sharp teeth. There 
was much rejoicing over the great mosquito's 
death, and for several days feasting and dancing 
were held in honor of the bravery of those who had 
rid the country of such a terrible scourge. Soon, 
however, swarms of the poisonous little flies that 
have been the pests of all nations since that time, 
infested the woods, and the Indians discovered that 
they came from the body of the dead bird. Too 
late they realized that the body of the great mos- 
quito should have been burned when it was first 
slain, for fire is ever the destroyer of evil spirits. 



[6i] 



THE STORY OF ONIATA 




THE STORY OF ONIATA 

MAIDEN more beautiful than had ever 
before been seen came into the house 
M of a great chief and grew to woman- 
hood by his fireside. All the tribes 
within a distance of many long journeys paid her 
homage, for, though her eyes were as dark as the 
depths of the pool in the rocks, her skin was as fair 
as that of the palefaces who came thousands of 
years afterwards, and her hair was borrowed from 
the rays of the sun. 

The great chief was honored above all his people 
on account of his beautiful daughter, for she could 
work charms that drove away the evil spirits of 
sickness, and when her father went to battle or fol- 
lowed the chase he was ever successful, for he car- 
ried with him the maiden's smiles to daze and blind 
his enemies, or to aid in his search for the hidden 
trail. Her songs were so full of music that when 
she sang the wild birds were silent in the branches 
of the trees, and listened that they might catch the 
tones of her voice. When she laughed the waters 
in the mountain streams sought the deep pools and 
[63] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

for very shame stopped their noisy clamor. Her 
feet were so small and delicate that only the skins 
of fawns were used to make her moccasins. The 
snow that lay over the earth in winter was no 
whiter than her skin, and her cheeks were like the 
first coming of the sun on the mornings when the 
corn is ripe. Never before had the Indians seen one 
so beautiful, and the wise men whispered that she 
had been sent by the Great Spirit from the Happy 
Hunting-Grounds to teach the Indians what beauties 
awaited them when they had journeyed to their 
long home. 

Over all the land spread the story of this won- 
drous maiden, like the tidings of a bountiful harvest 
or the boastings of a successful chase. From the 
villages far away came the young chiefs and war- 
riors, and when they had looked upon this lily of 
the forest and heard the music of her voice they no 
longer had hearts for the hunt, but spent their days 
in trying to win approving glances from the dark 
eyes of Oniata, the daughter of Tiogaughwa. They 
brought for her the most gorgeous and elaborate 
head-dresses of wampum, in which were woven the 
quills and feathers of the birds their cunning had 
been able to ensnare. They performed the most 
wonderful feats of agility and endurance, often vie- 
[64] 



THE STORY OF ONIATA 



ing with each other until even their rugged natures 
could not withstand the terrible self-imposed or- 
deals, and some sank exhausted or dying, while the 
more fortunate ones shouted cries of triumph and 
victory, loudly boasting of their own powers and 
strength. 

Tiogaughwa, the father of Oniata, was filled with 
pride at the attention shown his daughter. His lodge 
was rich with presents of rare furs and strings of 
wampum that had been laid at her feet ; the medicine 
of the wisest chiefs was freely placed at his disposal; 
he could have allied his tribe with the most power- 
ful — for the greatest chiefs and the most renowned 
warriors sought to wed the beautiful Oniata. 

But there came a change to these happy days of 
the old chief, Tiogaughwa. One day the chiefs and 
warriors were surprised to see the council-place 
filled with the women and maidens from all the 
country around. They deserted their lodges, left 
the fires to the care of the old men and children, 
and, without heeding the dark looks of their hus- 
bands, sons or brothers, took the places usually 
occupied by the wise men of the nation. When all 
were assembled, the wives of five of the principal 
chiefs were sent to ask Tiogaughwa and the chiefs 
and wise men to come to the council-fires. 
{65] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

When the chiefs and wise men were seated a 
silence fell on the assemblage. At last it was 
broken by the first faint notes of the mourning song 
of an Indian maiden for a lover who had been slain 
in battle. Others joined the chant and the weird 
chorus was caught up by the hundreds of women 
assembled, and filled the forests with notes of sor- 
row. The song ceased, but its last note had 
scarcely died away before another took its place. 
The Indian wives commenced chanting the sorrow- 
ful story it was the custom of a deserted wife to 
sing in her lonely lodge when her husband had left 
her to join another more congenial to his fancy. 
When their complaint had ended, the women sat a 
long time with bowed heads. Finally the wife of one 
of the chiefs — a tall, lithe, beautiful young princess 
— stepped before the chiefs and sachems and said : 

"We have come to the council-fires, oh! my 
brothers, that we might together tell the Great 
Spirit that the lovers of the Indian maidens are dead, 
and to ask him to meet them at the borders of the 
Happy Hunting-Grounds. We have come, too, oh! 
my brothers, to tell the Great Spirit that the bad 
spirits have caught the ears of our husbands and 
have told them tales that have led them from our 
lodges, and their wives and papooses are sick 

[66] 



THE STORY OF ONIATA 



with hunger. No longer is the smile of the dark 
maiden sought by the young braves. She plaits 
her hair with flowers and wampum and sits in the 
forests to await the coming of her mate; but the 
young braves come no more to woo her, nor can 
they be found on the track of the bear or the pan- 
ther. They loll with the dogs in the shadow of 
Oniata's wigwam and glare like the hard-wounded 
boar at the dark maidens who approach them. 
They are dead, and the hearts of the Indian maidens 
are full of sorrow. 

"The wives cover their heads with wolf skins 
and tell the Great Spirit that their husbands have 
deserted them. Day after day they have kept che 
lodge fires burning, but the hunters come not to sit 
in the light and tell the stories of the chase. The 
feeble old men and boys have tried to follow the 
hunt that they might provide the women with food. 
The papooses have sickened and died, and the 
death-song has been raised many times. But the 
warriors come not. They have forgotten their 
homes, as they lie in their camps near the lodge of 
the white lily, where they are held in sleep by the 
smiles of the Oniata. 

"Have the dark maidens lost their beauty, that 
their glances can never again bring life to the hearts 
[67] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

of the young braves ? Have the dark wives refused 
to do the bidding of their husbands that they should 
be deserted like sick and wounded dogs fallen in 
the chase ? 

4' My brothers, Waunopeta, the wife of Torwau- 
quanda, has spoken, and her sisters have told her 
to say that if they no longer please the hearts of the 
red men they ask to be sent on the long journey to 
the Happy Hunting-Grounds." 

As Waunopeta ceased speaking and took her 
place among the crouching forms of the women, 
there was a movement on the outer edge of th^ 
circle, and in an instant Oniata stood in the centre 
of the council-place. There was an exclamation of 
interest as this vision of wonderful beauty burst 
upon them. Many had never seen her, and they 
were almost blinded by a loveliness that was pre- 
vious to that time unknown to the race. She was 
clothed in the richest of skins, and her hair fell like 
a cloud of sun-kissed mist over her beautiful shoul- 
ders. Her cheeks burned with tints that betrayed 
her common ancestry with her dark sisters whom 
she had unwittingly troubled. 

** Oniata is here! "she cried, as she looked around 
at the dark faces before her, with eyes like those of 
the hunted fawn. ''Oniata is here to say that she 
[68] 



THE STORY OF ONIATA 



has not asked for the smiles of the young braves. 
They came around her wigwam and drove away 
the dream-god with their cries and love songs; but 
she covered her ears with the skins of the beaver 
and would not listen to them. When Oniata went 
forth to the forest they appeared before her like the 
thunder clouds, and she went back to her wigwam 
and could not look at her father, the sun. The 
warriors came to the lodge of the white lily and 
with shouts and cries told the Oniata that their 
wives and children should be the white lily's slaves 
if she would look out of her lodge upon them. But 
the Oniata called the women of her wigwam about 
her and they laughed in the faces of the warriors. 
Oniata loves her sisters, but they are angry at the 
white lily and ask that she be sent away to the long 
home where she shall be seen no more by the braves 
and warriors. She will go from the home of the 
red men and her dark sisters — far away beyond the 
mountains and the great lakes — and the braves will 
return to life for the dark maidens and seek them 
with love songs in the forests, while the warriors 
will once more go to their wigwams where their 
wives and papooses await them. But her people 
will remember the Oniata, for she will kiss the 
flowers in the forests as she goes. 
[69] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

"My sisters, the Oniata, daughter of the sun and 
the great chief Tiogaughwa, has spoken." 

She waved her hand, and the circle of listening 
men and women parted that she might walk 
through. The chief, Torwauquanda, started for- 
ward to follow her, but the dark princess, Wauno- 
peta, stood in his pathway, and he knew by the 
looks of the menacing faces about him that the 
white lily would go alone. 

Tiogaughwa rose as his daughter moved rapidly 
away, and said: ** Oniata has spoken well. She 
will go in peace. The scalp-lock of the warrior 
that follows her will hang in Tiogaughwa's 
wigwam." 

The old chief turned and folded his arms over his 
breast, watching with pathetic love the fast disap- 
pearing form of his daughter. 

Out into the forest went the Oniata — the loved 
of the sunshine, the dream of the Indian — and the 
solemn council sat in silence as the beautiful vision 
faded forever from their view. 

Far away from her people she wandered, never 
stopping to look back toward the home she had 
loved. The sun warmed her pathway for many 
days, and at night the sister of the sun smiled 
through the branches of the trees and lighted the 

[70] 



THE STORY OF ONIATA 



forest so the Oniata would not miss her lodge-fire 
as she slept. When she rested beside the clear 
streams she caught to her bosom the blossoms that 
covered the banks and breathed into their faces the 
love she had borne for her dark sisters and her 
home. The fragrance of her love filled their hearts 
and from that time they have freely given their love 
to others, as Oniata bade them when she pressed 
them to her lips and kissed them in her loneliness. 
When the clouds came and the rain fell, Oniata was 
sheltered by the thick branches of the trees, and 
when the rain had ceased she pulled the branches 
down, and pressing her cheeks against them, 
thanked them for their kindness. The trees learned 
gentleness from the maiden, and their blossoms 
have ever since spread their grateful perfume on 
the air. 

Many moons passed. The dark maidens were 
again wooed by the young braves, and the wives 
of the warriors were happy in the return of their 
husbands. The winter came and cast its white 
cloud over the land, and the frosts locked the rivers 
in prison houses of ice. But Oniata came not to 
the home of her people. 

The great Tiogaughwa mourned his daughter in 
his lonely wigwam, and his heart sang her death- 

[71] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

song as he sat before the fireplace, in which no fire 
was lighted, and bowed his head in mournful 
silence. 

The warm winds came again, and the young 
men and maidens were once more filling the forests 
with their love-songs, while with laughter they 
chanted the praises of their mates. Tiogaughwa 
saw all this, but his heart was heavy and he had no 
words for the council-fire, no strength for the chase. 
He left his people and walked away in the path 
that had been taken by Oniata. Wherever he 
went the wild flowers raised their heads and told 
him they had been kissed by Oniata, and the great 
Tiogaughwa fell down beside them and caught the 
fragrance of her breath. When the dew and the 
rain were upon them he could see once more the 
beauty of her eyes, and the gentle songs of the soft 
winds through the trees that had sheltered Oniata 
and had felt the loving touch of her caresses, told 
the great Tiogaughwa that the light of his wigwam 
awaited his coming in the long home. 



[72] 




THE MIRROR IN THE WATER 



THE MIRROR IN THE WATER 

*HEN the Great Spirit made the earth 
and put the water in the deep valleys 
to form lakes, and built the springs 
in the mountains to form streams 
and rivers, he did not give to the water the power 
to show within its surface his children's faces 
or to make the trees appear to grow with their 
branches pointing deep into the ground. For many 
thousands of summers the younger sister of the 
sun was never seen far down in the bosom of the 
lake at night, and many times young men grew old 
and died before the sun could see himself in the 
river, the warriors could put on their war-paint by 
the deep pool in the woods, or the maidens plait 
their braids with their smiling faces reflected from 
the laughing stream that flowed beside the 
wigwams. 

The red men lived together peacefully and hap- 
pily then beside a great river. One day the young 
hunters came home in haste from the chase and re- 
ported the coming of many strange people from 
beyond the river. They said the strange men car- 
[73] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

ried bows twice the height of the tallest chief 
known in the peaceful tribes, or held in their hands 
branches of trees to which were attached sharpened 
stones of great size. The chiefs and wise men as- 
sembled, and scouts and runners were sent forth to 
see if the young hunters had not been deceived by 
the evil spirits of the woods. But the young 
hunters had not looked with double eyes, and the 
strange warriors were as many as the pebbles on 
the bank of the river. The hearts of the red men 
were filled with fear, for they knew not then 
how to fight against such numbers, and the 
sachems arose from the council-fire and went forth 
to the cave in the rocks where the Great Spirit 
talked with them. The Great Spirit told his chil- 
dren that he would care for them and protect them 
from the strange warriors, and he told the people to 
fear not, but to obey the three fathers and fire- 
keepers of the nation. When the night came the 
fathers told the men and women to build many 
fires on the shore of the river, and when the fires 
were built the red men were filled with fear to see 
burning, deep down in the water, a fire for each 
fire on the shore. 

The strange warriors also saw these fires in the 
water, and they were frightened and dared not cross 

[74] 



THE MIRROR IN THE WATER 

the river in the night to destroy them. But with the 
morning the strange warriors once more took cour- 
age and plunged into the river to swim to the shore 
where the children of the Great Spirit dwelt. Then 
the Great Spirit loosed the spirits of the storm and 
they rushed down the mountain and out upon the 
river, and when he called them back the strange 
warriors were not to be seen. Then the red men 
went forth in their canoes and the water of the 
river was clear and white. They looked down and 
saw first their own faces and above them the smil- 
ing face of the Great Spirit; and then, down deep 
in the water, they saw the bodies of the strange 
men who had come to destroy them. 

The water never changed again, for the Great 
Spirit saw it gave his children pleasure, and he 
loved his children then. 



[75] 



THE BUZZARD'S COVERING 




THE BUZZARD'S COVERING 

;N the beginning, the birds were created 
naked, but because of their ill-shaped 
bodies and long legs they were ashamed 
and remained in hiding. At that time 
their throats had not been so arranged that they 
could sing. A long time afterwards they learned 
their music from the falling rain and the whistling 
wind. But they could talk, and with loud voices 
they bewailed their fate. Finally, with one accord, 
they began to cry and shout as loud as they 
could, asking that they be provided with cover- 
ings. The Great Spirit thereupon sent them word 
that their dresses were all ready, but that he 
did not have time to come and see that they 
were properly fitted. If they were in need of 
their raiment they must either go or send to a 
particular place a long way off, where they would 
find the coverings. 

A vote for a messenger was taken and the turkey 
buzzard was chosen because he was so strong and 
hardy. He started proudly on his mission, but the 
i77l 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

distance was so great that he became nearly fam- 
ished before reaching his destination, and, contrary 
to his habits in those days, he was compelled to 
eat carrion to sustain life. At last he came to the 
appointed place and found the coverings ready. As 
a reward for making the journey, the buzzard had 
been given first choice of the garments. He at once 
selected the most beautiful of the lot, but upon try- 
ing it discovered that he could not fly well with so 
many long feathers to manage, and so he laid the 
dress aside and tried others. One he feared would 
soil too easily ; another was not warm enough to 
satisfy his taste; a third was too light-colored and 
would render him too conspicuous ; a fourth was 
composed of too many pieces and would require 
too much of his time to care for it. So he went 
from one to another, finding some fault with each, 
until there was but one suit left — the plainest of all. 
As the buzzard had been expressly forbidden to try 
on any of the coverings more than once, he had 
but one choice left, and must either accept the 
plain, homely, coarse suit he has since worn or go 
naked. 

Often when the birds hold councils in the woods 
they talk quite sharply to the buzzard for his un- 
cleanly habits. He never fails to retort that his 
[78] 



THE BUZZARD'S COVERING 

ancestor acquired them while doing a great service 
for others, and he closes the discussion by remind- 
ing them that they have no special reason to be 
vain, as he had choice of all the bird coverings and 
took the one that pleased him best. 



[79] 



ORIGIN OF THE VIOLET 




ORIGIN OF THE VIOLET 

►HERE was a brave Indian many moons 
before the white man came to the land 
of his fathers who was the pride of all 
the men of the east. Though he was 
young, yet among his people his word was law 
and his counsels were listened to by the older chiefs 
with much attention. Three times had he done his 
people service they could never forget. Once, the 
great heron, that had preyed upon the children of 
the tribe for a long time, had fallen pierced to the 
heart by the arrow from his bow. He had gone 
alone and unarmed many days' journey without 
food to the mountain where dwelt the witches, and 
brought from the medicine caves the roots that 
cured his people of the plague. The third great 
service was when he had led a band of warriors 
against their enemies over the mountains and re- 
turned victorious. But on this journey the young 
warrior had seen a maiden whom he loved, and he 
wanted her for his wigwam. The maiden dwelt 
among the tribe that had felt the weight of the 
young chief's blow, and the warfare between them 
[8i] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

prevented his buying her with the quills of the 
wampum bird, as he could have done had she been 
one of his own people. And yet, the young chief 
thought, unless he could light his wigwam with 
the brightness of the maiden's eyes, his heart 
would no longer be brave and he could not lead 
his young men to battle. For many moons he was 
in hiding in the woods near the village of his foes, 
patiently watching for the maiden whose eyes had 
softened his heart. He sang the praises of his loved 
one so often to the birds as he crouched near their 
nests in the branches of the trees that they took up 
his song and bore it with them in their flight over 
the plains and valleys. So often did the bear, the 
fox and the beaver hear the praise of the maiden 
murmured by the young chief in his sleep that they 
thought the forests had brought forth a new flower 
of more radiant beauty than any they had seen. 

At last the young chief's vigils and waiting were 
rewarded, for one day the maiden wandered into 
the forest. With the calls of the song birds and by 
singing her praises he lured her far from her home, 
and then he seized and bore her away toward the 
hunting-grounds and village of his people. The 
maiden had been watched by the jealous eyes of a 
young brave who was her suitor, but he was cow- 
[82] 



ORIGIN OF THE VIOLET 



ardly, and when he saw her borne swiftly away on 
the shoulders of the dreaded chief, he dared not 
follow, but ran swiftly back to the village to give 
the alarm. The braves placed him in the hands of 
the women because he was a coward, and started 
quickly in pursuit of the girl and her captor. All 
night they followed them over the rugged moun- 
tains and through the dark forests. In the morning 
they overtook them and were filled with rage when 
they saw that the maiden was a willing captive, for 
she had given her heart to the strong young chief, 
knowing that he was brave and loved her. To 
signify her willingness to go with him she had 
plaited the braids of her hair about his neck, as was 
the customary way among them to indicate a mar- 
riage. Enraged at their foe for his daring and at 
the girl for deserting her people, the pursuing war- 
riors killed them both on the spot and left their 
bodies where they fell — the great braids of the 
maiden's hair encircling her lover's neck. 

From this spot sprang the violets; and the winds 
and birds carried the seeds of the little flowers over 
all the world, into all countries where men dare and 
maidens love, so that the Indians of all ages might 
know that the Great Spirit would always raise a 
monument to true love and bravery. 
[83] 



THE TURTLE CLAN 




THE TURTLE CLAN 

HEN the Great Spirit created the turtles 
he gave them a vast lake in and about 
which they could reside, and where 
they would never be molested by either 
animals or people. But the turtles were not satis- 
fied with the shape of the lake, and found fault 
with the hard, gravelly bottom and clear water. 
So they set to work to bring all the mud they could 
find on the plains surrounding it, and spread the 
loads of loose soil over the bottom of the lake where 
they were accustomed to lie. So many of them 
carried on the work that the lake was finally filled 
with the mud, and became so shallow that during 
one particularly hot summer it was entirely dry. 
Then the turtles held council and decided that the 
only way left to them was to set out to find a place 
where there was good water. One, a particularly 
wise and intelligent old fellow, urged his brethren 
to decide first upon some fixed course to follow 
and then by all means to remain together. Said 
he: "If we do this we will not only know exactly 
where we are going, but we can help each other. 
[85] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

There are a great many of us, and if any foe attacks 
us we can together repel the attack, for with our 
stone backs and sharp jaws we are well equipped 
for battle. Let me tell you, my brothers, that the 
world is full of dangers, and unless we are banded 
together and stand by each other, we will be scat- 
tered and lose our standing as a nation." 

To this wise counsel the turtles apparently 
agreed, but each one wanted the honor of present- 
ing the plan that was to be followed, and each also 
wanted the distinction of being chosen to lead his 
fellows. The wise old turtle made every effort at 
conciliation and proposed several plans, any one of 
which if accepted would have made the turtles a 
great and powerful nation, but they could come to 
no agreement. At last the commotion became so 
great that the voice of the wise turtle was drowned 
in the clamor, and he was powerless to counsel his 
fellows any further. Finally each turtle started off 
by himself, bound to follow his own inclinations, as 
the turtles have done ever since. At this foolish 
course the wise turtle became very angry. * ' Fools I " 
he cried, " I am ashamed to be counted as one of the 
turtle race, and although in memory of the forefathers 
whom 1 honor, I will always bear on my breast the 
form of a turtle, henceforth I will not be a turtle." 
[86] 



THE TURTLE CLAN 



With a tremendous effort he threw the shell from 
his back and leaped forth, a fully armed and painted 
warrior. The turtles were terribly frightened and 
made off as fast as they could. From that day they 
have been wanderers. 

The wise turtle became the progenitor of the 
turtle clan. He taught his children to deliberate 
carefully upon all matters of importance; to give 
attention and careful consideration to the counsels 
of their elders; and to work in unity in whatever 
they undertook. 



C«7] 



THE HEAUNG WATERS 




THE HEALING WATERS 

EKUMONTA, the strongest and bravest 
chief of the Mohawks, wandered alone 
in silence through the primeval forest. 
The giant pines looked down upon 
him with frowns ; the moss, dark and sodden on 
the maples with rain, gave only a gloomy 
greeting; the low beeches brushed against his 
anxious face, and as he passed beneath them chill- 
ing showers fell from their icy branches. Across 
his path the snarling panther crept in sullen anger; 
the frightened rabbit sped away to its nest under 
the prostrate log; his brother the bear turned aside 
and looked with sadness upon the troubled face of 
Nekumonta as he hurried forward in the fast gather- 
ing darkness. In all the forest no kindly sight came 
to comfort the strong and brave chief of the Mo- 
hawks, whose footsteps were heavy with fatigue 
and whose heart was burdened with sorrow. 

Through the cheerless, awful moons of snows 
and frosts the plague had raged in the village of the 
Mohawks. Many days and nights had the death- 
song been chanted for men, and women, and chil- 
[89] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

dren. Few were untouched by the terrible sick- 
ness, and the medicine men of the tribe had long 
since seen the last of hoarded stores of herbs which 
they used to put to flight the bad spirits. The 
strong and brave Nekumonta and the light of his 
wigwam, Shanewis, had watched the fires of life 
go out many times. They knew that the Happy 
Hunting-Grounds rang with the shouts and laugh- 
ter of their brothers and sisters; they sent them 
messages by the echoing spirits and told them to 
watch for their coming; but they were saddened 
because their brothers and sisters had gone on the 
long journey. The home of the Mohawks was full 
of pleasure when the hunters and the women, the 
young men, the maidens and the children worked 
together in the fields of growing corn, or gathered 
at night around the lodge-fire and listened to the 
legends told by the aged. 

At last the soft winds came, and their mellow 
songs drove the cold and darkness from the valley. 
With their first notes came hope — hope that when 
the awful winter had gone to his home in the north 
the plague would also take its flight from the 
village. 

Then Nekumonta's heart died, for Shanewis, the 
light of his wigwam, was stricken, and from her 
[90] 



THE HEALING WATERS 



couch of furs smiled sadly as she whispered: 
"Shanewis must fight with the bad spirits. She 
would not leave Nekumonta, the strong and brave 
one of the Mohawks, but her brothers and sisters 
call to her from their long home." 

For a moment Nekumonta stood erect, while 
upon his face came the shadows of despair. As the 
weary hunter loses control of his canoe and sees 
below him the rapids that in terrible fury play 
with their victim ere they hurl it over the precipice 
of death; or, as the warrior who with rising hopes 
has long withstood his foes, would see their rein- 
forcements come when his arm has lost its power, 
so upon Nekumonta came the realization of the 
struggle yet to come. But his brave heart failed 
not, and bending over the shivering form of his 
loved Shanewis, he said: 

"Shanewis shall live. Let her fight the bad 
spirits, and tell her brothers and sisters who call to 
her that she cannot go to her long home for many 
moons. Nekumonta has said it. He will find the 
healing vines of the Great Spirit, and Shanewis 
shall live." 

The robe that covered the entrance of the lodge 
was pushed aside, and the chief of the Mohawks 
hurried away into the forest. 
[91] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

In many places the snows were not melted. The 
roots were locked in their beds by the frost, and the 
medicine herbs had not yet awakened from their 
sleep. Running through the open fields, looking 
anxiously among the rocks, crawling under the 
fallen trees, hurrying with despair over the barren 
hills, swimming the swollen streams and rivers, 
darting along the shores of the half-frozen lakes, 
penetrating the gloom of the forbidding forests, 
stopping neither for rest nor for food, Nekumonta 
searched, repeating again and again, until the woods 
and fields were burdened with the words : " Shane- 
wis shall live! Nekumonta will find the healing 
vines of the Great Spirit, and Shanewis shall live! " 

Three suns had passed since he left his lodge, 
and still his weary quest was in vain. Wherever 
he looked only dead leaves and withered vines were 
to be found. When darkness came and he could 
no longer see, the anxious searcher had, on his 
hands and knees, crept onward all the night, hoping 
that his keen scent would discover what his sight 
had failed to disclose during the day. At the de- 
cline of the third sun, stumbling forward in the 
gathering darkness, Nekumonta fell exhausted to 
the earth and the Great Spirit touched his eyes with 
sleep. 

[92] 



THE HEALING WATERS 



Then the dream-god came and Nekumonta saw 
Shanewis lying sleepless on her couch of furs and 
heard her calling his name gently and with tender- 
ness. He saw that the plague ran through her 
veins like the fires that swept the forest when the 
rustling leaves lay thick upon the ground. Then 
he saw her creep to the door of the lodge and push 
aside the robe that shut out the cold winds. Long 
and earnestly she looked into the darkness, calling 
him to hasten to her side. He reached forward to 
clasp her in his arms, and the vision faded. Now 
he was in his canoe, which the taunting spirits of 
the plague were pushing down the river, and they 
laughed and shouted in derision as he tried to catch 
the medicine plants that grew in great abundance 
along the shores. Again, he was with his loved 
Shanewis in the cornfields, filling the great baskets 
with roasting ears to be taken to the fires where 
danced and sang the red men in honor of the ripen- 
ing harvest. Then the voices of the singers changed 
into low and murmuring sounds, which finally grew 
more distinct until Nekumonta heard the words: 

"Strong and brave chief of the Mohawks, we 
are the healing waters of the Great Spirit. Take 
us from our prison and thy loved Shanewis shall 
live." 

[93] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

Starting from his slumbers like an arrow from the 
bow, Nekumonta cast off the dream-god and stood 
in the first light of the smiling face of the Great 
Spirit as he came from his wigwam to open the 
new day. Swiftly his glance darted from side to 
side, searching in vain every tree and bush, every 
rock and stone for evidence of the presence of some 
one who could have uttered the words that had 
come so distinctly that they must be more than the 
echo of a dream. The practiced eye and ear of the 
hunter could discover nothing unusual in the forest, 
though every faculty was awake, every nerve 
strung to its greatest tension. With sadness and 
loss of hope his attitude relaxed, and with heavy 
footsteps he turned toward the hills. 

And yet he could not go away. Something sent 
him back to the little opening in the forest, and 
when he reached the spot where he had fallen in 
the darkness the night before he bent suddenly and 
placed his ear to the ground. 

What caused Nekumonta to leap to his feet with 
a cry of triumph that rang over the hills like the 
shout of many warriors ? What changed in an in- 
stant the hopeless, dejected being who bent to the 
earth, to a creature alert, with his hardened sinews 
standing out upon his body in eagerness to expend 
[94] 



THE HEALING WATERS 



its stifled strength ? Faintly, yet distinctly, he had 
again heard the murmuring voices: 

''Strong and brave chief of the Mohawks, here 
are the healing waters of the Great Spirit. Take us 
from our prison and thy loved Shanewis shall live." 

With a bound like that of the panther Nekumonta 
sprang to the hillside, and from the trunk of a hardy 
ash that had been felled by the lightning's bolt he 
tore the toughened branches, bearing them in 
triumph to the valley. Back he ran like the wind 
and from the yielding soil dug armfuls of sharp- 
edged stones, which he bore with hurrying steps 
to the place where a promise had been opened to 
him greater than the one of the Happy Hunting- 
Grounds. Not a moment did he pause, but the cry 
of "Shanewis! Shanewis! Shanewis !" was almost 
constantly on his lips. 

The smiling face of the Great Spirit rose higher 
in the path it followed for the day, and looked 
down over the hill tops at the toiling Nekumonta. 
Forcing the toughened limbs of the ash tree deep 
into the ground he wrested from their beds the 
huge bowlders that impeded his progress and 
formed the prison of the healing waters. With the 
sharp-edged stones he cut the hard earth, and with 
torn and bleeding hands he hurled the rough soil 
[95] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

from the excavation. Like a very god incarnate 
the dauntless spirit toiled — never resting, never 
tiring, never stopping except at long intervals, when 
he bent his ear to the earth. Each time he heard 
the voices, swelling louder and louder, and repeat- 
ing over and over again the promise that lent him 
an energy that could have torn the earth asunder 
had it refused to yield its life-giving treasure for the 
light of his wigwam. 

When the smiling face of the Great Spirit had 
reached the middle of its trail and turned once more 
to the door of his great lodge, the tireless Neku- 
monta leaped to the edge of the excavation with 
renewed shouts of joy and triumph, and the woods 
resounded with the laughter and songs proclaiming 
that the imprisoning barrier had been broken open. 
The sparkling, healing waters heard the welcome 
voices in the woods, and rising from their dark 
prison filled all the place the toiler had torn open in 
the earth, and then ran merrily down the valley in 
the sunlight. 

Nekumonta bathed his bruised hands and burning 
face in the grateful waters and then hurried away in 
the forest. On and on he ran, with a step so light 
that the dead leaves scarcely felt its touch, and 
with a strength that laughed the wind to scorn. 
[96] 



THE HEALING WATERS 



His path was straight through the forest to the clay 
banks where his people came in the moon of the 
falling leaves and made the vessels in which they 
cooked their corn and venison. Here his energy 
was born anew, and with a skill that was marvel- 
ous in its dexterity he fashioned a jar to contain 
the healing waters. From its hiding place he 
brought the fire stone, and the store of branches 
collected by the old men and children at the last 
moon of falling leaves furnished him a supply of 
fuel. When the smiling face of the Great Spirit 
entered the door of his wigwam in the west 
Nekumonta took from the dying embers the per- 
fected result of his handiwork. 

****** 
The warm winds, laden with hope and comfort, 
stole gently through the forest and sang with glad- 
ness of the death of winter. Life came once more 
to the swaying branches of the trees, and the first 
notes of the robins and blue birds thrilled the listen- 
ing air with a sweetness for which it had long 
hungered. The second day of spring had dawned 
on the home of the Mohawks— the village where 
the gaunt figure of the awful plague had reveled in 
a dance of death throughout the weary moons of 
winter. 

[97] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

Suddenly a triumphant shout filled the air. The 
hearts of weary watchers stood still with suspense, 
fearing that the evil witches had once more returned 
to taunt them of their helplessness. The plague- 
stricken woke from their fitful sleep and called 
piteously to the Manito. Once more the shout 
arose — louder, clearer, more triumphant — a peal- 
ing cry of victory from the strong and brave 
Nekumonta. 

Bearing aloft in his arms the vessel containing 
the healing waters, Nekumonta burst from the 
deeper gray of the forest like a flood of sunshine 
and ran with steps as light as the warm winds 
themselves to the darkened lodge of his loved 
Shanewis. With the soft mosses he had caught 
from the banks of the streams he soothed her 
fevered form, and with draughts of the grateful 
healing waters she was lured to returning health. 

Thus the loved Shanewis came back from the 
very borderland of the Happy Hunting-Grounds to 
her home with the Mohawks. 



198] 



THE SACRIFICE OF ALIQUIPISO 




THE SACRIFICE OF ALIQUIPISO 

ROUBLE came to a village of the 
Oneidas. From the north a band of 
red men who had listened to the bad 
spirits came upon the peaceful village, 
and, with murder and plunder in their hearts, 
spread destruction around them like the wild chase 
of the forest fires. The homes of the Oneidas were 
deserted and made desolate, and the women and 
children were hurried away to the rocks and hills 
for refuge and were guarded by the warriors. For 
many days and nights the attacking party vainly 
tried to find the trail of the people they had driven 
from their homes. The Great Spirit had passed his 
hands over the forest and the trail of the Oneidas 
was not discovered by the savage Mingoes. 

But the Oneidas were almost without food, and 
over the tops of the trees and along the face of the 
almost inaccessible cliff came hunger and death to 
their hiding place. The warriors and sachems sat 
long at the council, but their eyes were heavy and 
they could find no path that would lead them from 
their trouble. To try to escape from their refuge 

r99] 

L.o!':. 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

would expose them to capture and slavery at the 
hands of their foes. To remain where they were 
meant starvation and death. 

Then the little maiden, Aliquipiso, came to the 
warriors and sachems and told how the good spirits 
had come to her sleeping under the trees, and had 
shown her where from the side of the high bluff 
on which her people were hiding huge rocks could 
be rolled into the valley below in such a manner as 
to strike down the very trees there. The good 
spirits also told her to lead the foes of the Oneidas 
to the spot and bade her go upon the mission that 
she might deliver her people from their danger. 
The warriors and sachems listened to the unfolding 
of the plan with wonder, and when Aliquipiso had 
finished, the chief brought forth rich strings of white 
wampum and put them about her neck, saying 
that she was the princess of all the nation and be- 
loved of the Great Spirit. When the night came 
the little maiden left her people quietly and without 
faltering, and disappeared in the darkness. 

In the morning watchful scouts of the Mingoes 
found a little girl wandering as if lost in the forest. 
They hurried away with her to the dismantled vil- 
lage where she had been so happy with her fellows 
and at once commenced to torture her, hoping to 

[100] 



THE SACRIFICE OF ALIQUIPISO 

extort the secret of the hiding place of her people. 
With a fortitude that won the admiration of her 
captors, Aliquipiso resisted the torture for a long 
time, but finally told the cruel tormentors that when 
the darkness came she would lead them to the hid- 
ing place of the Oneidas. 

Night came again, and the exultant Mingoes 
started on the trail they believed would lead them 
to the camp of the Oneidas. Aliquipiso led the 
way, but she was in the grasp oi strong warriors 
who were ready with poised weapons to take her 
life at the first evidence of a betrayal. Through 
many paths and windings, slowly and craftily, crept 
the Mingoes until they were near the overhanging 
precipice of granite. Then Aliquipiso signaled to 
the warriors to come close around her, as though 
she were about to roll back the huge mountain wall 
and disclose to them those whom they pursued. 
When they had crowded to her side she suddenly 
lifted her voice in a piercing cry of warning — a sig- 
nal of death. She knew that above them the sleep- 
less sentries of the starving Oneidas were holding 
great bowlders poised upon the brink of the 
precipice. 

Her captors had scarcely time to strike her lifeless 
to the ground before the rocks rushed with terrible 

[lOl] 



Tr:Z :ROQ'J03 



: _i - -g u:e er.ritpped wi" .i xe worms under 
the foot q( a mighty gijjiL 

- - - : : r- :* the Oneidas, was 

~ ~:i :. -r r-t.r.r r.-.jL-y suns. The Great 
:'2^ngt-d he- hifr into woodbine, which the 
red men c: :: .---g hairs. i.~i ser.: :t ever 
the earth 2i : - ■ : ;:cr to old trees. From her body 
?7---r '~f - : -;.i-ckle. which was known to the 
- _ - - : -^ : - r blood of brave women. '" 



[IC^] 



- £. 



"X-HYTHE/J 






THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

upon their enemies like the sudden burst of the 
whirlwind. 

Thus from every beast of the forest the red men 
took lessons in the craft of the woods and plains, 
and when they had finished all the other lessons, 
the fox led them far away into the forest and taught 
them the cunning necessary to make use of each. 
In this way they lived while the summer and the 
winter came many times, and they were happy. 

But there came a time when the animals saw 
that the red man was their master. He had the 
wisdom of the beaver, the keen scent of the bear 
and the wolf, the patience and fidelity of the dog, 
the agility of the raccoon, the speed and endurance 
of the horse, the spring of the panther and the cun- 
ning of the fox. 

Often the beaver would be surprised to find that 
the Indian boys and women had not been content 
with fishing in the places he had pointed out to 
them, but had wandered away to streams which he 
had hoped to keep for himself. Furthermore, they 
were looking with envious eyes upon his warm 
coat of fur, and he feared that they might want it 
for a covering. Their houses were built with even 
more skill than his own, and as they had learned to 
fashion boats out of the trees he had felled for them 
[ 104] 



WHY THE ANIMALS DO NOT TALK 

and had made for their use paddles shaped like his 
tail, they could dart across the lake or along the 
river faster than he could ever hope to. And the 
beaver was saddened because he had taught the 
Indians wisdom. 

The bear and the wolf, wandering in the woods, 
often saw the Indians following the trail far into the 
forest. At the same time the Indians so cunningly 
disguised their own trail that the wolf howled with 
anger when he tried to follow the red men, and the 
bear grew surly and retired to his den in the rocks. 
With the keen scent the bear had trained, the Indians 
sought out the trees where the bees stored their 
honey, and thus he was robbed of much of the food 
he loved best. The wolf heard a young brave 
promise a maiden that if she would live in 
his wigwam she should rest on a couch made of 
wolf skins and be covered with the warm fur of 
the bear. So the wolf and the bear took their little 
ones into dark caves and kept away from the 
homes of the red men. 

The dog, too, found that he no longer held first 
honors for faithfulness at the watch. But he was 
not angered at the knowledge that his brother could 
rival him, but lay with him many nights on guard 
in the wilderness, vying with him in vigilance. 
[105] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

When their long vigils were ended the dog and 
the Indian would play together and make merry 
with each other over the result of their friendly 
contest. 

The panther was jealous and raged through the 
forests with fury. Sometimes, to his surprise and 
wrath, when he had taken every precaution to con- 
ceal himself from his brother, the red man, the 
branches of the young trees would part as silently 
as if swayed by the breath of summer, and between 
them would appear his red brother, laughing at 
him for hiding himself so ill. 

When the raccoon reached the highest point to 
which he dared climb, the Indian boys would follow 
him with shouts of laughter, and go still further 
toward the ends of the swaying and bending 
branches, hanging from them in such a dangerous 
and reckless manner that it made the old raccoon's 
head turn dizzy, and he went away to the hills by 
himself. 

The Indians learned their lessons so thoroughly 
of the horse and practiced them with so much 
patience that finally that animal found he could no 
longer play when they had races on the plains. But 
he enjoyed the contests with his red brothers, and 
when they returned to the village he would follow 
[106] 



WHY THE ANIMALS DO NOT TALK 

and the Indian maidens would mount his back and 
ride proudly to the council-fire. 

The fox was greatly chagrined to find that his 
cunning and tricks were matched on the part of his 
red brothers with others equally shrewd. No rhat- 
ter how carefully he concealed his trail — though he 
walked in the beds of the streams or circled the 
mountains till he had almost lost his own path- 
way — the Indians would track him through all his 
windings. When he tried to lead them astray by 
subtle tales they laughed at his deceptions and put 
him to shame before his friends and neighbors. 

So it came to pass that the Indians possessed the 
knowledge of all the animals. They could follow 
the trail with the scent of the bear or the wolf; 
build more wisely than the beaver; climb more 
daringly than the raccoon; watch more faithfully 
than the dog; crouch more closely and spring more 
surely than the panther; race the plains as swiftly 
as the horse, and outwit the cunning of the fox. 

Then the animals held a council, but the fire was 
not lighted in its accustomed place and the red men 
were in heavy slumbers while their brothers of the 
forest talked. 

The jealous wolf opened the discussion and de- 
clared that when he had carefully looked on all 
[107] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

sides of the existing state of affairs he saw but one 
course for the animals to pursue. They ought to 
rush in upon the villages and kill all the Indians and 
their women and papooses. 

The bear was more noble, and said that he thought 
this proposition was unfair. He declared, however, 
that the animals could not stand still any longer 
and look without fear upon the dangers which con- 
fronted them. It was their duty to challenge the 
Indians to an open war. 

The beaver argued that the better way would be 
to wait till the chilling blasts should come and then 
in the night tear away the houses the Indians had 
built to protect themselves and their little ones from 
the cold. The storms of winter, the beaver said, 
would very soon put these smart fellows in a con- 
dition that would make them anxious enough to 
come to some terms advantageous to the animals. 

The horse said it would not be right to cause the 
Indians pain or death. The Indians were not bad 
neighbors, though perhaps a trifle too apt and smart 
for the rest of them. For a great many years, said 
the horse, his ancestors and the red men had been 
on the best of terms — not so much as a ripple of 
trouble having disturbed their relations. He could 
not for a moment think of entering into any plan 

[io8] 



WHY THE ANIMALS DO NOT TALK 

whereby he would be called upon to help take his 
brother's life or cause him pain. He had heard that 
away over beyond the great mountains there was a 
pleasant country — not as pleasant and fertile as the 
one in which they now lived, but a fairly good 
place to live in. He would therefore propose that 
the animals invite the Indians to go there on a great 
harvest expedition, and when once the red men were 
safely over the mountains the animals could steal 
away in the night and return to their loved homes. 
The panther scoffed at the horse for advancing 
what he was pleased to call a silly and senseless 
plan. The beaver, too, the panther said, was much 
too leniently inclined. The Indians were to be 
feared, and if the animals were to retain any of 
their freedom and independence they must follow 
the advice of the wolf. Only total extermination 
of the Indian race could be depended upon to war- 
rant them from further molestation from the red 
men. What good would it do, forsooth, to lure 
the red men over the mountains and then run away 
from them ? Did the horse think the Indians sick 
nurselings or women to lie down on the big plains 
over the mountains and make no effort to return to 
their loved streams, lakes and forests ? Why, the 
Indians would come back as quickly as could the 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

horse himself, and then the very ground would be 
made red with the blood of those who had decoyed 
them away from homes that had for generations 
been held in such high reverence by the Indians. 
He advocated an immediate advance upon the vil- 
lages and would give quarter to none. 

All eyes were turned toward the raccoon as he 
rose to speak, for his was a very old family and had 
long been held in high respect by all the inhabitants 
of the forest. He said he could not exactly side 
with the panther, for the Indians had never done 
him any great harm. He was convinced, however, 
that the country ought to be rid of them, for they 
were becoming altogether too well skilled in the 
craft of the woods. Too much power in the hands 
of one individual, said the raccoon, was apt to make 
it unpleasant for those with whom he lived. He 
favored the plan advanced by the beaver. They 
could lay their plans carefully, and in this manner 
bring about a treaty that would keep the Indians 
within proper bounds. 

The fox felt sure that the better plan would be 
for the animals to put themselves under his train- 
ing. He would teach them how to cheat and steal 
while pretending friendship. They could then 
easily strip the red men's fields of the corn that had 

[no] 



WHY THE ANIMALS DO NOT TALK 

been planted for the winter. They could take from 
their moorings on the river banks the boats and 
fishing nets of bark and float them far away down 
the stream where they would be lost in the rapids. 
In this manner they could soon have the Indians at 
their mercy and bring about a treaty on the plan 
proposed by the beaver and seconded by the 
raccoon. The plan, he continued, offered no dan- 
ger to them, as did the contests proposed by the 
panther and the wolf ; and he thought that mature 
deliberation would convince all that it was the best 
one to adopt. 

The dog said that not until the present time had 
he ever realized what it was to be a beast. He felt 
ashamed to think he had been weak enough to be 
prevailed upon to attend a council to which their 
red brothers were not bidden. It was contrary to 
the custom that had existed since the Great Spirit 
first sent them to this fair and beautiful country. 
He expected that they would all be punished for 
such treachery, and indeed they ought to be. The 
Indians had as yet treated them only with kindness 
and respect. Many times in winter, when the 
snows lay so deep on the ground that no food could 
be found the Indians had opened their homes to the 
animals who had not made suitable provision for 
[III] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

food, and had fed them and kept them from perish- 
ing with hunger. There had never been a time, 
said the dog, as he looked around the circle of lis- 
teners and waited for a denial of his assertion, when 
any Indian had refused shelter, food or aid to a 
needy, sick or suffering animal. To be sure the 
Indians had acquired all the knowledge that the 
animals possessed, but their doing this had in no 
manner impoverished the animals. As they had 
lost nothing by this, he saw no reason why they 
should be jealous and fault-fmding about it. Would 
it not be far wiser for the animals to profit by the 
example set by the Indians and teach each other 
the various traits and characteristics each possessed 
than to be consumed by jealousy and revenge, and 
in the heat of passion break a peace that had existed 
for so many years ? He could not, and would not 
be a party to any of the plans proposed, and if the 
other animals persisted in following out any of 
those cruel and treacherous schemes he should con- 
sider it his duty to leave the council and go to the 
village to warn his sleeping brothers of their danger. 
More than that, he would fight on the side of the 
red men if it became necessary, and help them de- 
fend their lives and homes from the attack of any 
force that might be brought against them. 

[112] 



WHY THE ANIMALS DO NOT TALK 

When the dog had ceased speaking the wolf and 
the panther were in a terrible rage. They accused 
the dog of cowardice, bad faith, bribe-taking, de- 
sertion and treachery. They said he had been made 
foolish and silly by the praise that had been lavished 
upon him by the Indian maidens. They reviled him 
and stuck out their tongues at him for being love- 
sick after the Indian women. They said he had 
turned nurse for the papooses and hereafter would 
better stay in the villages of his new-found friends 
and lie in the sun with the old men. They dared 
him to go to the village and expose the proceedings 
of the council, saying that if he attempted it they 
would set upon and kill him. '' For a poor and 
meagre crust of maize-cake, too hard for the teeth 
@f the red men to crush," said the panther; ''you 
have been bought, and you give up all claim to the 
rights that have been held sacred by the dogs of all 
times. We should think that the memory of your 
forefathers and the long line of noble dogs who 
have lived before you came on earth to disgrace 
them would stir you to action for the honor of your 
race." 

"No," said the wolf; **he can remember nothing 
but the soft caresses of the Indian girls upon his 
head. I saw him the other day lying at the feet oi 
["3] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

Garewiis, the daughter of the chief Teganagen, and 
when he raised his eyes and looked at her she took 
his head in her arms and laid her cheek against him, 
all the time stroking his back and singing to him as 
she will sing to her papooses when they come to 
her wigwam. Not only has he sold himself to be 
the friend of the Indians and sit quietly by while 
we are enslaved, but he is lovesick and his head is 
turned." 

This warm and intemperate language caused 
much confusion and something of a sensation, 
though the dog remained calm and dignified. He 
showed by no outward sign that the uncivil and 
untruthful charges of the panther and the wolf had 
even been heard, much less heeded. 

The horse instantly sprang into the open place 
before the fire and hurled at the two false accusers 
his most powerful eloquence. ** I come as a 
champion of my friend, the dog," he said. "You 
have insulted and maligned him in a manner that 
calls for the condemnation of all honorable beasts. 
He is my brother. Because there is some difference 
in our tastes and 1 am his superior in size, it makes 
him none the less my brother. I love him, for he is 
gentle, affectionate, trustworthy, noble and brave. 
You, the panther, and you, the wolf, boast of your 
[114] 



WHY THE ANIMALS DO NOT TALK 

bravery; yet which of you dared rush into the 
burning forests as did my brother, the dog, and lead 
the blind doe to a place of safety ? Which of you 
dared plunge into the river, made deep and danger- 
ous by the melting snows as winter died and the 
warm winds came to bury him — when the waters 
boiled and foamed to the very tops of the high 
banks and spread out over the plains like a great 
lake — and from the midst of that angry flood bring 
safely to the shore a weak and drowning companion 
who had stumbled and fallen over the bank ? I 
have heretofore loved you all, but henceforth I shall 
be ashamed to acknowledge the wolf and panther 
as my brothers. They seem to think that bravery 
consists in cruel attack and glistening teeth, but I 
can tell them that it is more surely found in noble 
deeds. 1 will follow the dog to the homes of the 
red men, and together we will fight against the 
cruel practices you design to put in force." 

As the horse ceased speaking the Great Spirit 
came suddenly to the council-fire and said that the 
loud voices of the disputants had been borne to his 
ears by the message-bearers and he had listened in 
sorrow to all that had been said. He had therefore 
left the Happy Hunting-Grounds and come to their 
council. He was grieved that the pleasant relations 
[115] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

heretofore existing between the Indians and the 
animals would now have to be broken and dis- 
turbed. When they had been given life the inten- 
tion was formed that eventually all would dwell 
together in the Happy Hunting-Grounds. Now he 
would be compelled to alter his plans. He would 
change the language of his red children so that the 
beasts could never talk with them again. He would 
go to his children in the villages and tell them all 
that had been said at this clandestine council in the 
woods. For all time the wolf and panther should 
be hunted and killed by the Indians. They should 
be looked upon and warred against as the most 
dangerous of foes. The bear might be counted as 
an honorable antagonist, and the red men would 
be ready to fight him in open battle whenever the 
opportunity offered. The red men would not dis- 
turb or molest him, but if he should come and de- 
mand a battle the Indians would not refuse. The 
beaver and raccoon, on account of the heartless 
plan they had set forth for the vanquishing of their 
brethren, should be considered the prey of the 
Indian and should yield their thick furs to keep his 
children warm. The fox would be looked upon as 
a thief. He had proposed to steal the food of the 
Indians and bring them to want; now he might 
[ii6] 



WHY THE ANIMALS DO NOT TALK 

practice his desire. But the Indians would be 
warned and would set traps and snares for him. 
When caught his fur would be used like the fur of 
the beaver and raccoon. The horse and the dog 
might still retain their understanding of speech of 
the Indians, but as they had been guilty of breaking 
an ancient treaty by attending a council to which 
all the parties of the treaty had not been bidden, 
they must receive some punishment, and would no 
longer be permitted to speak the Indian language. 
But they should always be the champions and 
friends of the red men; they should live in the 
Indians' homes, be present at the great feasts and 
festivals, share the products of their hunt, be loved 
and petted by the maidens and papooses, fight with 
the Indians when they fought and be partakers and 
sharers in the victories or defeats. In a word, they 
should be the companions and brothers of the 
Indians forever, here and in the Happy Hunting- 
Grounds. . 



["7l 




THE MESSAGE-BEARERS 



THE MESSAGE-BEARERS 

HEN the Great Spirit brought the red 
men from the Happy Hunting-Grounds 
and left them upon the earth, they 
were filled with fear lest they could 
never make him hear their wants and could not 
reach his ears when they desired to tell him of their 
joys and sorrows. The sachems went before him 
and said: "Oh, our Father, how will thy children 
tell thee of the deeds they have performed that will 
please thine ear ? How will they ask thee to their 
homes to help them drive away the bad spirits; 
and how will they invite thee to their feasts and 
dances ? Oh, our Father, thou canst not at all times 
be awake and watching thy children, and they will 
not know when thou art sleeping. Thy children 
do not know the trail to the Happy Hunting- 
Grounds by which to send their wise men and 
sachems to talk with thee, for thou hast covered it 
with thy hands and thy children cannot discover it. 
How will the words of thy children reach thee, oh, 
our Father, the Manito; how will what they say 
come to thine ears?" 

["9] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IRCXJUOIS 

Then the Great Spirit created for each one of the 
red men a second self, to whom he gave a home in 
the air. He provided these beings with wings and 
swift feet so they could move very rapidly. To 
them he imparted the secret of the entrance to his 
home and made them guides to his children whom 
he had called on the long journey so that they 
should not lose the paths leading to their future 
home. Finally, the Great Spirit told these creatures 
ofthe air that they should be message-bearers for 
his children, and convey their words exactly as 
spoken from one point to another until they reached 
the ears of his sachems in the big wigwam by the 
side of the council-fire that never lost its light. 
They must be ready at all times to answer the calls 
of the red men, so that none of their words might 
be lost. Messages to the loved ones who had left 
the earth and gone to the Happy Hunting-Grounds 
must be transmitted with the same watchful care as 
were those intended for his ears alone. If any of 
his children spoke idle and untruthful words they, 
too, must be repeated that their father might know 
whether they were worthy to be admitted to the 
grand council-fire. 

When he had finished his instructions, the Great 
Spirit told the sachems that he would return to his 

[120] 



THE MESSAGE-BEARERS 



home and that they could go with his children to 
the bank of a beautiful river near which they dwelt, 
and there talk to him. 

Slowly and with a loud voice, the chief sachem 
began to speak. From the opposite bank of the 
river the waiting message-bearer caught up the 
sachem's words as they were spoken and with a 
strong voice shouted them to another dweller of 
the air who crouched in the tree-tops far down the 
river, ready and alert to do the Great Spirit's bid- 
ding. On and on, rolling along the ravines and 
valleys, leaping from hill-top to mountain-side, and 
from mountain-side to lake, striding over the forests 
at a bound — fainter and yet fainter, until lost in the 
blue distance of the plain — the message of thankful- 
ness and love was borne from the lips of the grate- 
ful sachem until it reached the ears of the ever lis- 
tening and loving father, and was told to the chiefs 
who sat in the light of the council-fire that never 
grows dim. 



[HI] 




THE WISE SACHEM'S GIFT 



THE WISE SACHEM'S GIFT 

LONG time before the white men 
came, there lived a wise sachem who 
was known as the Great Peacemaker. 
His life was full of winters and 
his mind was stored with the teachings of the 
wisest sachems that had lived before him. He 
could remember the time when all the red men 
dwelt in peace, and before troubles came that drove 
them to wars and dissensions. All his life was 
spent in going from one village to another, teaching 
the doctrine of peace among his people. He told 
the red men how to help each other when the bad 
spirits came and disturbed them. If the harvest 
was poor in one village, he taught other villages 
that they must take food to their brothers; if any 
were in want, he said that those who had plenty 
must relieve them. He settled differences and diffi- 
culties by his logic, quelled wars and disturbances 
by his wise counsels and eloquence, and taught 
gentleness by his example. Finally, when he had 
reached an age beyond that of any of the sachems 
who had lived before him, he called his people to- 
[123] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

gether and told them that he must go away on the 
long journey, but that they need not mourn for 
him, as he would return in a form that would live 
forever. 

From his grave sprang the tobacco plant, and in 
honor ot his memory was established the custom of 
smoking the pipe of peace at all peaceful councils. 

When the curling smoke ascended around the 
council-fires the red men saw in its fantastic shapes 
the form and features of the Great Peacemaker. 
They opened their ears and he told them that agree- 
ments made in his presence were sacred, and if 
violated would displease the Great Spirit. They 
bent their heads and the wise sachem placed his 
hands upon them as a token that he would aid his 
children in all peaceful pursuits. His presence was 
never invoked when there were discussions of 
wars, for he would frown upon his children and 
frighten them with his terrible countenance. 

Many generations lived and died, and all respected 
the agreements made in the presence of the wise 
sachem's spirit, for not until years after, when the 
red men had been taught the meaning of a broken 
treaty through experience with the whites did they 
ever violate a treaty that had been ratified by **the 
pipe of peace." 

[124] 



THE FLYING HEAD 




THE FLYING HEAD 

*HERE were many evil spirits and terri- 
ble monsters that hid in the mountain 
caves when the sun shone, but came 
out to vex and plague the red men 
when storms swept the earth or when there was 
darkness in the forest. Among them was a flying 
head which, when it rested upon the ground, was 
higher than the tallest man. It was covered with a 
thick coating of hair that shielded it from the stroke 
of arrows. The face was very dark and angry, 
filled with great wrinkles and horrid furrows. 
Long black wings came out of its sides, and when it 
rushed through the air mournful sounds assailed the 
ears of the frightened men and women. On its 
under side were two long, sharp claws, with which 
it tore its food and attacked its victims. 

The Flying Head came oftenest to frighten the 
women and children. It came at night to the 
homes of the widows and orphans, and beat its 
angry wings upon the walls of their houses and 
uttered fearful cries in an unknown tongue. Then 
it went away, and in a few days death followed 
[125] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

and took one of the little family with him. The 
maiden to whom the Flying Head appeared never 
heard the words of a husband's wooing or the 
prattle of a papoose, for a pestilence came upon her 
and she soon sickened and died. 

One night a widow sat alone in her cabin. From 
a little fire burning near the door she frequently 
drew roasted acorns and ate them for her evening 
meal. She did not see the Flying Head grinning at 
her from the doorway, for her eyes were deep in 
the coals and her thoughts upon the scenes of hap- 
piness in which she dwelt before her husband and 
children had gone away to the long home. 

The Flying Head stealthily reached forth one of 
its long claws and snatched some of the coals of fire 
and thrust them into its mouth — for it thought that 
these were what the woman was eating. With a 
howl of pain it flew away, and the red men were 
never afterwards troubled by its visits. 



[126] 



THE ASH TREE 




THE ASH TREE 

iHE ash tree, the leaves and bark of 
which were the universal specific for 
the poison of the rattlesnake, had its 
origin in a warrior whose wife and two 
children died from the bite of a rattlesnake that had 
found its way into their wigwam. The brave's 
grief was so violent that the Great Spirit gave him 
permission to turn into a tree, the branches of 
which would make bows and arrows with which 
his people could kill their deadly enemies; the green 
leaves placed in a circle around the sleeping war- 
riors would form a barrier through which the rep- 
tiles would not crawl; the bruised leaves would act 
as a poultice to draw the venom from the wound, 
and from the bark could be brewed a draught that 
would drive the delirium from the body of the 
suffering victim. 

A form of words was pronounced as the Indians 
approached the ash tree to draw on its resources 
for any of the purposes named. They would say : 
**0h, my brother, the mighty friend of the Indian, 
your red brother comes to you for help. He has 
[127] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

met the forked-tongue whose bite is like the sting 
of bad arrows. He knows not where to turn ex- 
cept to his noble brother, whose goodness is known 
to all the Indians. Help me, my brother, for the 
sting of the forked-tongue is deep and the eyes of 
your brother close in sleep if you do not help him. 
I wound you, my brother, but my fathers have told 
me of your goodness and of your hatred of the 
forked-tongue." 



[128] 



THE HUNTER 




THE HUNTER 

ANISTAGIA, the hunter, was loved by 
all the animals with gentle natures. He 
never pursued them in wantonness, 
and he took the life of none except in 
case of stern necessity. To the wild, fierce mon- 
sters that inhabited the forests and preyed upon the 
weak and timid ones, Kanistagia was a constant 
foe, and so swift was the flight of his arrow, so 
powerful the blow of his hunting club, so unerring 
his knowledge of their haunts in the mountains, 
that they feared him deeply and hid away with low 
and sullen mutterings when they heard his ringing 
shout upon the chase. 

These were the panther, the wolf, the wildcat, 
and other strange and vicious animals at war with 
the red men. 

But it was not so with the bear, the beaver, the 
raccoon, the elk, the red deer, the moose, the fox, 
the squirrel and the dog. They were the friends of 
Kanistagia, and when he walked abroad his path 
was made bright by their greetings, and he often 
sat a long time in their company and talked with 
[129] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

them of curious things found in their haunts. He 
treated them as friends and neighbors, and when 
any were sick or wounded he gave them advice 
about the medicine they should use that they might 
recover. 

Once when the corn was tasseled there came 
fierce and warlike men from the north, and Kanis- 
tagia and his brothers went forth to defend their 
homes. The Great Spirit gave their arms strength 
and the fierce men were driven away. But before 
they went Kanistagia was struck upon the head by 
the war club of one of the northern men, and when 
the hunter fell to the ground his victor cut the scalp- 
lock from his head and bore it away in triumph. 

The hunters and warriors did not see Kanistagia 
fall and mourned him as one who had been 
taken a prisoner by the fierce men they had fought. 
They knew he would meet death bravely and go 
on his way to the Happy Hunting-Grounds with 
smiles on his lips, and that the wrinkles of a coward 
would find no place on his face. But his fall did 
not escape the keen eyes of the fox, who ran to him 
when the fighting men had disappeared. 

"Alas! my benefactor and brother," lamented 
the fox, **the heavy sleep has closed thine eyes 
forever. Thy kindly life has been rudely torn from 
C130J 



THE HUNTER 



thy body before the death-song could warn thy 
brethren of thy coming. Woe and sorrow will be 
many days with thy brothers in the forest if, per- 
chance, none of them know the medicine that shall 
bring thee from thy sleep." 

Then the fox ran to the top of a high hill and 
began to sing his death lament, that all might know 
that trouble had come upon him. Through the 
forest echoed the mournful sounds, and they were 
caught up and repeated by the listening beasts on 
hill and in valley until all had heard the tidings and 
gathered at the place where the body of Kanistagia, 
their brother, lay. When they had mourned over 
his fate the bear called the council to silence. 

Said the bear: *'My brothers, we mourn for a 
protector with whom we have spent many pleasant 
seasons. By his wisdom and counsel we have 
been taught many things that were good for us to 
know. It is our duty now, if any know a powerful 
charm that will awaken him, to produce it that we 
may once more be gladdened by our brother's 
smiles." 

Then each one ran to and fro in the forest, bring- 
ing many curious substances to the side of the 
hunter, but none was of avail. The bear and the 
fox, with plaintive whines, stretched themselves by 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

his side and gently licked the wounds of their 
brother, but their efforts brought forth no sign of 
life. At last they were forced to believe that 
Kanistagia must surely be lifeless, and a great cry 
of mourning arose from the hundreds of animals 
present. This attracted the attention of the long 
nest (oriole) and he flew to ask its meaning. He 
was informed by the deer, upon whose horns he 
alighted, and after asking permission from the bear 
to invite the birds to the mournful gathering, flew 
rapidly away on his errand. Soon all the birds in 
the forest had been told and the sky was darkened 
by their flight to the scene of Kanistagia's death — 
so wide was the fame of the hunter that all knew 
him. Among them was the great eagle of the Iro- 
quois, which seldom approached nearer the earth 
than the tops of the highest mountains. Slowly he 
floated over the assembled birds and animals and 
finally stilled his mighty wings and stood beside 
the hunter. Then he spoke: 

"Kanistagia will wake from his heavy sleep if 
the sharp eyes of his friends«will discover his scalp- 
lock and their swift feet or tireless wings will bear 
it to this place before the moon is round." 

Forth upon their search ran the animals, the bear 
and elk alone remaining beside their brother to 
[1323 



THE HUNTER 



guard his body from foes. Long and earnestly they 
sought the trail of the warrior who had slain their 
friend, but so carefully had he concealed his path 
that none could follow it. The beaver sought traces 
of his footsteps in the beds of streams; the dog and 
the fox thrust their noses under the leaves and 
deeply drew in their breaths, hoping to find the 
scent of the murderer's footsteps; the raccoon 
climbed to the tops of the highest trees and looked 
in every direction ; the red deer ran in great circles, 
hoping to come suddenly upon the fugitive; the 
squirrels, and even gentle rabbits, scampered in all 
directions, looking in vain for traces of the slayer of 
Kanistagia. But at last all returned, and with 
heavy hearts told the council that they knew not 
where to look. 

The great eagle of the Iroquois bade the pigeon- 
hawk make the first flight for the birds, as he was 
swift of wing. Scarcely had he gone when he re- 
turned again, but brought no tidings. The birds 
murmured that his flight had been so swift that he 
had not looked carefully, and the eagle sent forth 
the white heron. But the heron was so slow of 
wing that the patience of all was exhausted, and 
soon some small birds came to the council with the 
news that he had discovered a plain on which wild 
[133] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

beans grew in abundance and was now so over- 
laden with feeding on them that he could not rise 
and fly. Then the crow came forward and said 
that if he were sent he would pledge himself to 
discover the hiding place of the murderer. So the 
crow was sent and at once flew to a village where 
he had many times been to watch for food. He 
sailed slowly over the wigwams at a great height 
and finally his keen eyes spied the coveted treasure. 
Watching his^ chance, the crow dashed down and 
caught the scalp-lock from the pole upon which it 
hung, and rapidly winged his way back to the 
council. 

But when they attempted to place the scalp-lock 
upon their brother's head they found that the piece 
had been dried and would not fit^ and they searched 
long and faithfully for something that would make 
it pliable. But their search was in vain, and in 
despair they turned again to the great eagle, who 
heard their plight and bade them listen to his words : 

"The wings of the eagle are never furled. For 
many thousand moons the dews of heaven have 
fallen on my back as I rose to great heights above 
the storm and watched my mate on her nest above 
the clouds. These waters may have a virtue no 
earthly fountain can possess." 
[134] 



THE HUNTER 



Then the eagle plucked a feather from his breast 
and dipped it in the glistening cup of dew that had 
fallen on his back, and when this was applied to 
the scalp-lock it at once became as when first 
removed. 

Again the animals ran into the forest, and from 
every hidden place, from every deep ravine, from 
tops of hills and mountains, from knoll and from 
morass, brought leaves and blossoms and roots 
from the rarest plants and trees. The birds sought 
the cliffs and precipices where foot could not rest 
and added to the collection many curious and rare 
specimens. With these they made a healing medi- 
cine, and when they had placed it upon the hunter's 
head, his eyes were opened and he lived. 

Then, indeed, there was rejoicing. The birds 
beat their wings and sang loud choruses, while the 
animals ran about in wild delight because their 
brother had been awakened from his heavy slumber. 
As the eagle of the Iroquois soared again to his 
home on the mountain-top, the round moon, whose 
coming all had so dreaded, rose over the waving 
branches of the forest and lent its cheerful light to 
the happy gathering. 



[135 J 



HIAWATHA 




HIAWATHA 

|ISTEN, my children, while the fire 
burns red and the shadows come and 
go like mighty giants, and I will tell 
you the story of Ta-ren-ya-wa-gon, 
the holder of the heavens, who afterwards became 
a mortal and was called Hiawatha, the wise man. 

There came to his ears one day a great cry of 
distress, and when he looked from the entrance of 
the Happy Hunting-Grounds he saw a few men 
and women in the forest moaning with terror, for 
all their friends had been slain by mighty giants and 
fierce monsters. So he went quickly to their aid, 
and taking a little maiden by the hand, bade all 
follow whither she led. By paths known only to 
Ta-ren-ya-wa-gon, he conducted them to a cave 
near the mouth of a river,' and there he brought 
them food and bade them sleep. 

When they had remained there many days Ta- 
ren-ya-wa-gon again took the maiden by the hand 
and led her toward the rising sun, and the few 
people who had been saved by his mercy followed 
gladly in "the trail he pointed out. At last they 

1 Oswego River. 

C 137 ] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

came where the great river ' they had followed 
poured over some mighty rocks to the level of 
another river," and here he told them to build a 
house in which they might dwell in peace. Many 
moons they remained there in happiness, and the 
little children who came to them grew to be strong 
men and handsome women. Then came Ta-ren- 
ya-wa-gon and said to them : 

"You, my children, must now go forth and 
become mighty nations; and I will teach you the 
mysteries of the forests and make your numbers like 
the leaves that cover the trees when the warm days 
have come." 

Then they followed him toward the setting sun, 
and when they had gone some distance he told off 
certain numbers and families that should make their 
homes and build a village in that place. These he 
gave corn, beans, squash, potatoes and tobacco, and 
also dogs with which to hunt game, and named 
them Te-ha-wro-gah.' From that time they could 
not understand their brothers, and they dwelt 
henceforward on the banks of the beautiful river. 

Then went he with the others towards the sun- 
setting till at last they halted in a broad valley 
where were beautiful streams. And he bade some 

1 Mohawk River. ' Hudson River. 3 Divided speech ; the Mohawka. 

[138] 



HIAWATHA 



of his followers remain there, and gave the same 
good gifts he had given their brothers and told 
them that they should be called Ne-ha-wre-ta-go,* 
for the trees of the forest were of great size where 
he bade them dwell, and in a short time these had 
also learned to speak a new tongue. 

Then Ta-ren-ya-wa-gon led the rest of his people 
onward toward the sun-setting till they came to a 
mountain which he called O-nun-da-ga-o-no-ga.' 
There he again commanded some of his people to 
remain, and he gave into their possession the same 
gifts he had confided to the care of his other chil- 
dren, and called them Se-uh-no-wah-ah-tah.' To 
these he gave his own language. 

Many days journey toward the sunset, near the 
shores of a lake named Go-yo-gah," he selected a 
dwelling-place for others of his children and bade 
them build a village and left them provided with all 
good things. These he called Sho-nea-na-we-to- 
wah; ' and their language was also changed. 

Then with those who remained Ta-ren-ya-wa-gon 
continued toward the sunset until they came to a 
mountain near the lake called Ga-nun-da-gwa/ 

» The Oneidas. "^ Onandaga ; on the hills, 

s Carrying the name ; the Onondagas. 

• Mountain rising from the water ; the Cayugas. 

• People of the great pipe. 

• Canandaigua ; the place chosen for settlement. 



[139] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

and here he told them they should dwell. And he 
gave to them the name Te-ho-ne-noy-hent/ and 
changed their language as he had done that of their 
brothers and bestowed upon them the same gifts 
for their food. 

But there were some who were not content to 
stay where the holder of the heavens had bidden 
them to live and who ran away toward the setting- 
sun many days until they came to a great river 
which they crossed on a wild grape vine. But 
when the last ones were crossing, the vine broke 
and none could ever return.' 

Then the holder of the heavens gave his time to 
the instruction of his children, and to each family he 
imparted some distinctive skill. To the Senecas he 
gave the power of swift feet, and they could soon 
outrun any animal in the forest. The Cayugas be- 
came skilled in the use of the canoe, and glided 
over the waters more rapidly than the skimming 
birds or darting fish. The Onondagas were in- 
structed in all the laws and wishes of the Great 
Spirit and had power to speak his mind. The 
Oneidas became skilful in ways of making weapons, 
of the building of houses and the weaving of baskets. 



> Possessing the door ; the Senecas. 

* This refers to the Indians beyond the Mississippi. 

[140] 



HIAWATHA 



The Mohawks were taught to shoot their arrows 
with surer aim than all the others, and could snare 
the fish from the streams with wondrous skill. 

You, my children, must know that Ta-ren-ya- 
wa-gon, the holder of the heavens, had power to 
assume any shape, and that he could fly from one 
place to another, far distant, more rapidly than the 
great eagle. He taught his people the knowledge 
of hunting and gardening; he fashioned arrow- 
heads from the flint and guided the hands of his 
children until they, too, could make them ; he gave 
instruction in the arts of war, that they might de- 
fend themselves; he cleared their streams from ob- 
structions and pointed out the water path^ from the 
sun-rising to the sun-setting. He taught them the 
form of poisonous fruits and plants, giving them to 
eat of those that were wholesome; he taught them 
how to kill and dress their game; made the forest 
free for the tribes to hunt in, and gave them laws 
and precepts to guide them in the treatment of both 
the young and the old. 

Then Ta-ren-ya-wa-gon determined to reside 
with his children, and he assumed the form of a 

^ The " water path " was up the Mohawk River to Rome, over a short 
portage to Wocd Creek, thence to Oneida Lake, down the Oswego River to 
Seneca River, and thence westward over the chain of lakes in the interior of 
the State of New York. If the journey was to be to the far west, the Oswego 
River was taken to Lake Ontario and thence through the chain of great lakes. 

[ HI ] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

man and chose as a wife a maiden from the Onon- 
dagas. When he had done this he was named 
Hiawatha. His home was on the shores of a beauti- 
ful lake/ and to it came many of the red men and 
their wives and children, that they might learn from 
the wise Hiawatha how their lives should be guided. 
To his wigwam came also a daughter, whose 
beauty was as the flowers, glistening with the dews 
of night and kissed by the light of the Great Spirit's 
smiling face. The name of the daughter was 
Minnehaha. 

Many seasons passed. Under the teachings of 
Hiawatha the Onondagas became the greatest of all 
nations. The wise man came in his magic canoe 
of dazzling whiteness and sat at all their councils, 
and by his wisdom and moderation the tribe was 
preserved from strife and became foremost in the 
arts and knowledge of the forest. 

But at last there came an alarm from the north 
beyond the great lakes, and the story was told with 
fear at the lodge-fires of a relentless enemy who 
came to kill and burn. In terror the chiefs told 
their fears to Hiawatha and he advised them to call 
a council of all the tribes at a place on the borders 

1 Cross Lake, Cayuga County, New York. A very romantic and beautiful 
point on the southern shores of this little body of water is pointed out by the 
Indians as the site of Hiawatha's home. 

[M2] 



HIAWATHA 



of a lake where he had once told them to light a 
great council-fire, that they might make prepara- 
tions to meet their foes. Swift runners went to the 
villages of all the tribes and the chiefs, and warriors 
assembled at the appointed place. Three days they 
awaited the coming of Hiawatha, and on the morn- 
ing of the fourth a mighty shout arose as they saw 
his mystic canoe gliding over the waters of the lake. 
In its prow sat the beautiful Minnehaha, while the 
wise man, her father, occupied a seat at the stern of 
the boat and with a light paddle directed the course 
of the mysterious craft. He was met at the edge of 
the water by the foremost men of the tribes, and 
greeting them as brothers, each in their own lan- 
guage, he stepped from the canoe and walked a 
short distance along the shore. Suddenly a rushing 
noise was heard, as of the coming of an awful 
storm, and as all eyes turned upwards a great bird 
was observed coming out of the heavens with the 
speed of an arrow. Hiawatha and his daughter 
alone stood unmoved and tranquil. The others fled 
in terror. The celestial visitor alighted at the feet of 
Hiawatha. Impelled by some unseen power, Min- 
nehaha knelt at her father's feet. He placed his 
hands on her head for a moment and then she 
slowly rose, cast one look into his face, murmured 
[143] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

gently, ** Farewell, my father! " and took her place 
between the wings of the Great Spirit's messenger. 
Instantly the giant bird stretched its wings for flight 
over the glistening waters of the lake, and circling 
over the heads of the appalled multitude, swiftly 
bore its burden of loveliness to the home of the 
Manito. 

Hiawatha sank to the earth and covered his head 
with the robe of a panther. Three times did the 
smiling face of the Great Spirit pass across the 
heavens before the wise man moved or uttered a 
sound, and his red brothers feared he had gone on 
the long journey and could not again give them 
counsel. Finally he rose from his mourning, bathed 
himself in the lake and asked that the council be 
called. When all were seated in the place ap- 
pointed, Hiawatha came before them and said: 

*'My children, listen to the words of Hiawatha, 
for they are the last he will speak to you. My 
heart beats with yours, my children, but I cannot 
longer remain to make known to you the will of 
the Great Spirit. 

** My children, the voice of strife has brought you 

from the homes where you have so long dwelt in 

peace. You tremble for the safety of your wives 

and little ones; you fear that your happy life will 

[144] 



HIAWATHA 



be disturbed. You, the members of many tribes 
and villages, have one common fear, and you 
should therefore have one common interest. 
Singly, no tribe can oppose the hordes of the 
north that threaten to come like the storms of 
winter, blasting and killing all in their path. 
Divided you can make no progress. You must 
unite as one common band of brothers. You must 
have one voice, for many tongues make confusion. 
You must have one fire, one pipe, one war club. 
If your warriors unite they can defeat any enemy 
and protect the safety of their homes. 

"My children, listen, and Hiawatha will tell the 
wampum of the Great Spirit." 

He made a signal and the fire-keepers advanced 
to the center of the council-place and united the 
council-fires in one.^ Then Hiawatha threw to- 
bacco upon this and said: 

** Onondaga, you are the people of the hills and 
are warlike and mighty. Your strength is like 
that of the great tree whose branches withstand 
the storm because its roots sink deep into the 
ground. You shall be the first nation. 

"Oneida, you are the people who recline your 
bodies against the everlasting stone that cannot be 



* See note on this legend. 

[MS] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

moved.' You shall be the second nation because 
you give wise counsel. 

"Seneca, you are the people who have habita- 
tion at the foot of the great mountain and dwell 
within the shadows of its crags. You shall be the 
third nation because you are fleet of foot and are 
greatly gifted in speech. 

"Cayuga, you whose dwelling is in the dark 
forest and whose home is everywhere because of 
the swiftness of your canoes, you shall be the 
fourth nation because of your superior cunning in 
hunting. 

"Mohawk, you are the people who live in the 
open country and possess much wisdom. You 
shall be the fifth nation because you understand 
best the cultivation of corn and beans and the 
building of cabins. 

"Like the fingers on the hand of the warrior, 
each must lend aid to the other and work in 
unison. Then foes shall not disturb or subdue you. 

"My children, these are the words of the Great 
Spirit spoken to you by Hiawatha. Let them sink 
deep into your hearts and be remembered. When 
the sun comes again I will listen to your decision. 
1 have done." 

' Evidently an allusion to Trenton Fall* chasm, located within the Oneidas' 
COOBtry. 

[146] 



HIAWATHA 



On the following day the council again assembled 
and the wise men agreed that Hiawatha had 
spoken well and that they would follow his teach- 
ings. They asked him to be their chief sachem, 
but he told them he could not as he was going 
away. Then Hiawatha approached the spot where 
the celestial bird had rested and gathered a quantity 
of white plumes that had fallen from its wings. 
These he gave to the warriors as emblems that they 
should wear and by which they should be known 
as members of the Ako-no-shu-ne, who were called 
the Iroquois.^ Then Hiawatha said to them: 

"To you, Oh! my children, remember well the 
words of Hiawatha. To you. Oh! my friends and 
brothers, be faithful in aiding each other when 
danger may come. Recall the words of the Great 
Spirit which have been given to you for many 
moons. Do not admit to your councils the people 
of other tribes, for they will plant among you the 
seeds of jealousy and trouble and you will become 
feeble and enslaved. 

"Friends and brothers, these are the last words 
you will hear from the lips of Hiawatha. Choose 
the wisest maiden' in your tribes, who shall be 



Succeeding generations wore feathers from the white heron, approachiog 
irly as possible the plumage of the celestial bird. 
3 See legend " The Peacemaker,' and note on same. 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

your peacemaker, and to your sachems shall come 
wisdom to arrange for the reference to her of dis- 
sensions that may arise among you. I have spoken, 
and will now follow the call of the Great Spirit." 

At that moment sweet strains of music burst 
upon the ears of the listening multitude — like the 
gentle voice of summer in the branches of the pine 
trees ; they heard it, but knew not whence it came. 
The wise man stepped forward, and as he was 
seated in the mystic canoe the music burst upon 
the air in tones more beautiful than the red men 
had ever before heard. But the snow-white canoe 
did not skim the waters of the lake. Slowly it rose 
as the choral chant pealed forth, and, following the 
direction taken by the celestial bird, disappeared 
among the summer clouds as the melody ceased. 



I 



1 148] 



THE PEACEMAKER 




THE PEACEMAKER 

lENUKA, the "peace-home, was deso- 
late. The fire of pine knots that for 
many generations had burned upon 
its fire-place was dead and sodden. 
No voice of welcome was heard within its doors. 
Its hangings of skins and robes were torn and 
loosened by the winds of all seasons. The broad 
paths leading from the sun-rising, the sun-setting, 
the guide star and the summer land, which for 
many hundred moons by night and by day had 
been pressed by the feet of the red children of the 
forest when in trouble, in danger, in need of coun- 
sel, or in want, were now choked with briars and 
thistles. The wolf whelped her young in the couch 
of the Peacemaker. Birds without song and of 
black plumage built their nests and muttered hoarse 
croakings to their nestlings in the roof of the peace- 
home. 

Blood had been shed in Kienuka and the Great 
Spirit had made the peace-home desolate. 

When Hiawatha, the wise man, was speaking 
the last words to his children, he told them to 
[M9] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

choose from their tribes a maiden possessing wis- 
dom, who should be their peacemaker. So the red 
men built a home wherein the peacemaker should 
dwell, and doors were made at each side so that it 
mattered not whence came the wayfarer he would 
find a welcome. Then the maidens of the tribes 
were brought together at the council-place and to 
them were submitted the questions in dispute 
among their brothers. The wise men decided that 
she who would decide the greatest number most 
justly should be the Peacemaker Queen and dwell 
within the fortress they had built. Thus the Queen 
was chosen, and when the Great Spirit called her 
to the long home she was mourned by the people 
of all the tribes, and none entered the peace-home 
until her successor had been selected. 

In this manner came to the peace-home Gene- 
taska, the Seneca maiden, whose wisdom and 
kindness were known to all, and whose beauty 
was like that of the full summer. She was the 
most famous of all the Peacemaker Queens, and 
the red men said that Minnehaha, the daughter of 
Hiawatha, came often from the sky on the back of 
the celestial bird and gave her advice and guidance. 
Whoever went to the doors of the peace-home dis- 
puting came from them again, when they had 
[150] 



THE PEACEMAKER 



eaten and rested, with no anger in their hearts, for 
Genetaska soothed them by her gentle voice. To 
the sick and wounded she ministered with the 
greatest medicine herbs; to those heated by passion 
she told tales of the Great Spirit that taught them 
moderation. Disputes among the tribes were so 
adjusted that the hunters or warriors who would 
come to Kienuka with anger and war in their 
hearts left its doors as brothers. 

One day there came to the peace-home two young 
chiefs — one from the Oneidas and the other from 
the Onondagas. Each claimed that his arrow had 
given the death stroke to a mighty buck they had 
been trailing in the forest. When they had tried 
their skill with weapons, agreeing that the most 
skillful should possess the slain animal, neither 
could gain advantage over the other. Then said 
the Onondaga: **I will fight thee, Oneida, and he 
who lives may carry to his village the mighty buck 
and the scalp-lock of his enemy." 

But the Oneida said: "Thou, Onondaga, must 
remember the words that have been spoken in 
thine ears by the old men who listened to the 
teachings of Hiawatha, that when two hunters of 
the Five Nations dispute in the paths of the forest 
they shall not fight, but tell their dispute to the 
[151] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

Peacemaker. The Oneida will go with thee to 
Kienuka." 

When they had eaten and rested at the peace- 
home, the hunters were told that each should take 
half of the buck back to his village. "For," 
said the Peacemaker, ''the animal is large, and 
with half each hath enough for his wife and little 
ones." 

''The Oneida is alone in his home," said the 
chief. " I carry the meat to the old men and to the 
women who have no sons. The Oneida has seen 
no maiden he would take to his wigwam till he be- 
held Genetaska, the Peace Queen." 

Then said the Onondaga: "The home of the 
Onondaga is desolate since the plague robbed it of 
the loved ones. He is a great chief and has power 
in his tribe, for he was never defeated on the chase 
or in the contest. But the Peacemaker has made 
his heart weak, and he can never be strong again 
unless she will come to his wigwam." 

Then said Genetaska: "Go, thou, my brothers, 
and think no more of the Peace Queen, who is 
chosen by the tribes and may not be the wife of 
any. Seek thou other maidens, who will gladly 
become wives to you." 

But when they were gone there was no longer 
[152] 



THE PEACEMAKER 



peace in the heart of Genetaska, for the form of the 
Oneida was before her eyes. 

When the autumn came — when its first tints had 
touched the forests and merely tinged the dark 
green with a hazy brown — the Oneida chief came 
at sun-setting to the peace-home and stood boldly 
before the Peacemaker. He said : 

"The Oneida hath built a wigwam in the sum- 
mer land where the Five Tribes do not care to go. 
He hath filled it with robes and supplied it with 
food and it awaits the coming of Genetaska, the 
Seneca maiden, who loves the Oneida. The tribes 
will choose another Peace Queen when thou art 
gone, and thy heart will no longer be heavy with 
the burdens of all the red children who come to 
thee with their troubles. Will not Genetaska go ? " 

The maiden looked boldly into the face of her 
lover and answered: "Genetaska will go." 

Toward the summer land they left Kienuka, and 
when they came to the river they glided rapidly 
along in the Oneida's canoe and were lost to their 
people forever. 

But the peace-home was desolate, and to its 
doors in the darkness came running two men 
whose anger toward each other had long been fed 
[153] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

with jealousy and hatred. When no Peacemaker 
was found their rage could no longer be controlled, 
and they fell upon each other with their hunting 
clubs and fought till they sank from exhaustion 
and died before each other's eyes. 

The peace-home had been desecrated by the 
shedding of blood. Henceforth it was a place 
shunned by all men. 



I 



[■5i.l 




AN UNWELCOME VISITOR 



AN UNWELCOME VISITOR 

HEN the frosts were unlocked from the 
hillsides there came into one of the 
villages of the red men a mild and 
quiet old man whom none of them had 
ever seen before. He stood beside the field where 
the young men played at their games, and when 
some of the fathers approached to bid him welcome 
to their village and wigwams they saw that his 
body was covered with sores, and they made ex- 
cuses to turn aside that they might not meet him. 
When none went to him and called him brother, 
he turned to the village and walked slowly from 
door to door of the wigwams. The women saw 
him and as he approached their doors they covered 
their children's faces that they might not see his 
features, and wished in their hearts that he would 
not enter. When the little man read their thoughts, 
with saddened eyes and heavy steps he would turn 
away and seek another habitation, where he would 
again see that he was not welcome and turn his 
weary footsteps from the door. When he had 
visited all the wigwams in the village without fmd- 
[155 J 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

ing a welcome in any, he went suddenly to the 
forest and they saw him no more. 

The next day he appeared in another village, 
where the same weary round of the day before 
brought him no shelter. For many days thereafter he 
went from village to village, and, though he spoke 
to no one, he knew that their hearts were not open 
to him and that they shuddered at his coming. 

Finally there remained but two more villages to 
visit and he feared that he should find none who 
would bid him enter their homes that they might 
minister to his wants. At last, however, as he ap- 
proached a humble cabin his eyes brightened, for 
he read in the heart of the woman who saw him 
coming that she had taken pity on his forlorn con- 
dition and that her hospitality would overcome the 
dread his appearance caused. Said the woman: 

*'Thou art welcome, my brother, for thou art a 
stranger." 

Then said the strange man: " Peace to my sis- 
ter's house and happiness to her husband." 

Then the woman spread a couch of soft furs at 
one side of the wigwam and bade the stranger lie 
down; and when she had done so she asked him 
how she should minister to his wants. Then the 
strange man said : 

[156] 



1 



AN UNWELCOME VISITOR 

"Listen, my sister: Thou of all thy race hast 
had in thy heart pity and love for a suffering and 
friendless creature that have led thee to give him 
shelter in thy house. Know then, my sister, that 
thy name shall henceforth be great. Many wonders 
shall be taught thee, and thy sons will be made 
chiefs and thy daughters princesses. I am Quarara, 
and bear messages from the Great Spirit." 

Then Quarara described to the woman a plant 
which she went forth into the forest and procured. 
She returned to the hut and prepared it as he bade 
her, and when it was administered to him he re- 
covered from his sickness and the sores left him. 

Quarara remained at the woman's wigwam 
many moons and brought upon himself all manner 
of fevers, plagues and diseases, and for each one he 
described the medicine root or herb that would 
perform its cure. These the woman found in the 
forest and brought to him, and he made it plain 
how they should be prepared to do the will of the 
Great Spirit and defeat the evil spirits and witches 
that plagued his people. 

Then said the strange man, Quarara, to her: 

"Thou, Oh! sister, knowest now what the Great 
Spirit would have thee teach his children freely. 
Thou hast been patient and kind and thy heart is 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

filled with gentleness. The sons that shall be born 
to thee shall be called Sagawahs, the healers, and 
thou and thy family shall be remembered through- 
out all generations." 

Quarara then brought upon himself the fatal 
disease, for which there is no remedy, and returned 
to his home with the Great Spirit. 



[158] 



THE FOUR WINDS 




THE FOUR WINDS 

LITTLE boy and his grandmother lived 
together in a small hut, and while the 
old woman was absent in the fields 
tilling the corn and gathering branches 
for their fire, he was alone at their home. As 
he played about the cabin he heard strange 
voices in the trees, and though he listened carefully 
and looked very closely in the direction of the 
sound, he could never see anyone. He often asked 
his grandmother who was thus ever talking among 
the branches, but she bade him wait until he was 
older, when he would find out for himself. 

So one night he could not sleep, for he heard the 
voices roaring and shrieking all about the cabin, and 
he crept to his grandmother's side and begged her 
to tell him what it was. '* That is the west wind, 
my son," said the grandmother. " But lie close in 
the cot and cover your head with your furs and he 
will not harm you." 

In the morning when the grandmother was 
going away to the harvest he asked her where 
the west wind lived. She pointed out the direction 
[159] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

and toid him that it was a long distance away; too 
far for a little boy to walk. So he waited until he 
grew larger and could shoot straight with the 
arrows, and had discovered many charms, and then 
one day he started out to find the west wind. 

Far, far away in the west he came to a field, so 
wide that he could not see across it, and as he 
neared this he heard a voice say: "Ah, ha, here 
comes the young boy who is seeking me. What 
shall I do with him .^ " But the boy could see no one. 

Then the voice said: " What would you think if 
I should send a hurricane to tear up your grand- 
mother's cabin ?" 

"Oh, I should like it," said the boy, "for the 
cabin is old and we need a new one." 

Then, straight and swift, he sent an arrow in the 
direction of the voice, and immediately there was a 
loud roaring like many voices talking all at one 
time. The boy turned and ran home as fast as he 
could, and as he neared his grandmother's cabin he 
heard a mighty storm gathering. His grandmother 
came running out to meet him, and cried that he 
had angered the west wind and now they would 
be killed. 

"Not at all," said the boy, "for I will change 
the cabin into a rock." He used one of his charms 

[i6o] 



THE FOUR WINDS 



and the cabin changed as he said, and he and his 
grandmother sat in the center of the rock until the 
wind was tired out in his search for them. Then 
the boy changed the rock back into a cabin again, 
and they went out into the woods and found plenty 
of fuel which the west wind had scattered on the 
ground. Afterwards he was not afraid of the 
west wind, for he had learned that no mat- 
ter how angry it was, it could not roar very 
long. 

In a few days the boy asked his grandmother 
where the north wind lived, and though she pointed 
in the direction, she told him that he better not go 
to find it. But the boy started out, and he walked 
a long distance until he came to some high hills 
covered with snow. 

"Ho, ho," said a voice, "here comes a foolish 
boy to find my home." 

But the boy could not see anyone, and he asked: 
"Who is talking.? If that is the north wind, I 
have come to seek you out." 

"Yes, I am the north wind," answered the 
voice, growing louder. "What would you think 
if I should send a great hailstorm down upon your 
grandmother's cabin, and strike it with spears as 
sharp as needles ?" 

[i6i] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

"Oh, I should like it," replied the boy, "for I 
v;ant some sharp spears." 

Then he fitted an arrow to his bow and sent it 
toward the north wind, and when the arrow went 
out of sight he heard a loud rattling, and he turned 
and ran home as fast as he could. As he came 
near his grandmother's home, she met him in alarm 
and said: "Now I know we will be killed, for you 
have made the north wind angry." 

But the boy told her not to be afraid, and he 
again changed the cabin into a rock, and they sat 
in the center until the north wind was tired out. 
When the storm Vv^as over and the rock was 
changed back into a cabin, the boy and his grand- 
mother came out and saw the ground all stuck full 
of glistening spears. 

"Just what I wanted," said the boy. "I will 
get poles and fit them to the spears and use them 
in fishing." But when he brought poles, he saw 
no spears remaining, for all had melted in the sun. 
Then the boy never was again afraid of the north 
wind, for he knew that no matter how many 
glistening spears and handsful of hail it brought, 
the sun could soon melt them. 

The next day the boy asked his grandmother 
where the east wind lived. 
[162] 



THE FOUR WINDS 



" Have you not had enough adventure, my son ?" 
said the grandmother. '* Beware of the east wind, 
for it is more cruel than the others." 

But the boy said he must find it, and the grand- 
mother showed him the direction. So he started 
out and walked until he came to a lake which 
he could not see across. From the shore where he 
stopped he saw great shadowy forms of white, and 
then he heard a voice whistling over the waves: 

"Who is this," it shrieked, " that comes to my 
home to disturb me?" 

Then the boy said: "Who are you that asks in 
such a loud voice ?" 

" I am the east wind," whistled the voice, louder 
than before. "What would you think if I should 
come upon you with a cloud and swallow you up ? " 

"Oh, I should like it," answered the boy, "for 
I have always wanted to ride upon a cloud." 

And then he fitted an arrow to his bow and shot 
it into the strange shapes which he saw approach- 
ing the shore. When the arrow struck them, the 
forms commenced to roll toward him as though 
they would crush him down, and the boy ran home 
as fast as he could. The grandmother heard the 
whistling of the east wind as it followed her son, 
and she ran out to meet him. "Oh, dear," she 
p63i 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

cried, " now you have angered the east wind, and 
it will flood our home and drive us into the fields." 

"Not so," said the boy. "Do not fear him, 
grandmother, for he is but a noisy, clumsy fellow 
and is afraid of fire." 

So they carried many branches '.nto their cabin 
and sat by a warm fire until the east wind found 
that he could not drive its clouds of fog into the 
presence of the grandmother and the boy, and then 
it went away. And the boy never again feared the 
east wind, for he knew that a cheerful campfire 
would not let it harm him. 

Now, the boy knew that there was remaining 
only one direction in which he could seek the south 
wind, and he went away in the morning before his 
grandmother awakened. He walked a long dis- 
tance, and finally came to a field all strewn with 
flowers; where birds were singing and squirrels 
were chattering in the trees or scampering along 
the fallen logs. As he stopped to see these beauti- 
ful sights, he heard whisperings all about him in 
the branches, and then there was a touch upon his 
cheek. He kept very still and listened again, and 
then he heard a voice whispering in pleasant tones: 

"Who is this that comes to the home of the 
south wind ?" 

[164] 



THE FOUR WINDS 



"Only a little boy," he replied, quietly, "who 
means no harm." 

"Do you want me to take some of my birds 
and blossoms and go with you to your home, little 
boy?" said the whispering wind, as it played 
upon his cheeks again and gently stirred the feath- 
ers which were stuck in his hair. 

"If you should do this, my grandmother would 
be as happy as I am," answered the boy. 

Then the south wind took him by the hand, and 
together they went toward his home. With them 
went the birds, and, sometimes, gentle showers 
which freshened the trees which the noisy west 
wind, the cruel north wind and the terrible east 
wind had stripped of their leaves, and spread a 
carpet of green over the dry ground as they passed 
along. The old grandmother heard from afar the 
soft sighing of many voices, and with them the 
shrill call of the birds; and so she ran into the hut 
and made ready to plant the seeds of corn, and 
beans and squashes. 



I '651 



Bits of Folk-Lore 



BITS OF FOLK-LORE 




BITS OF FOLK-LORE 

'IRE was believed to be a giant that was 
fed on pygmies or small spirits existing 
only in the wind. The process of fan- 
ning the embers into flame with one's 

breath was only attempted at the greatest hazard, 

as it was ** very bad medicine." 

Whoever might be engaged in the practice of 
any mystery should never be disturbed or inter- 
fered with except under penalty of the direst mis- 
fortunes and the suspicion of all his tribe. They 
might wonder in their own hearts, but they must 
never betray the least curiosity to find out what 
one of their number might be trying to bring about 
by his experiments, incantations or mysterious per- 
formances. The arrows of a curious hunter never 
hit the mark, and the corn planted and tilled by a 
curious woman bore only crooked and withered 
ears. 

The sun was commonly known as " the smiling 
face of the Great Spirit," and when it disappeared 
at night it was supposed to have entered the door 
[169] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

of a great wigwam which was built in the form of 
a semi-circle. In the morning it reappeared at the 
other door of the wigwam. Their ideas about 
astronomy were extremely vague and were con- 
stantly changing. The moon was believed to be a 
sister of the sun, and in time would be able to give 
as much light as her brother. The stars were 
bright and glowing brands of fire tied with thongs 
and held by spirits created for that purpose by the 
Great Spirit. One star alone, the North Star, was 
held by the Great Spirit himself because it was 
always in the same place. It was called the guide. 
Other stars and planets were named, but the names 
have not been preserved. 

The springs and the streams they formed were 
first made for the convenience of the Great Spirit. 
He desired to leave the Happy Hunting-Grounds 
and make a journey over the earth and so he sent a 
large white bird to carry water from the original 
spring near the Great Spirit's wigwam and plant it 
in the earth at convenient distances. Sections of 
country that were without springs had not been 
visited by the Great Spirit. 

Language was looked upon as a sacred gift, and 
was as much a part of the body as the head or 
[170] 



BITS OF FOLK-LORE 



limbs. For this reason an Indian never spoke the 
language of another nation except in the capacity of 
interpreter. When a council was held between 
tribes the orators conducted the debate in their own 
language, and the words were translated, when 
necessary, as they fell from the lips of the speakers 
by those who had been trained for that purpose. 
It was considered the greatest possible affront to 
their ancestors and to the Great Spirit for the Iro- 
quois to speak any language other than their own. 
Deaf mutes among them were pointed out as people 
who were not satisfied with the language of their 
fathers and in consequence had lost the power to 
speak or hear. 

Difficulttes and contentions were spirits of evil 
that flew about inciting trouble. When disputes 
and differences were arranged or settled they would 
arise again unless buried. When terms of a settle- 
ment had been agreed upon it was customary to 
dig a hole in the ground, around which the dis- 
putants would gather, and each party to the dispute 
would talk his grievances into the excavation, abso- 
lutely unburdening himself of all he had to say. 
When the ceremony was concluded, the excavated 
earth was returned and firmly stamped and pounded 
f 171] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

down. In this way, it was believed, the quarrel 
could be forever buried unless one of the parties to 
the ceremony deliberately removed the earth and 
again opened the prison of the bad spirits. From 
this belief grew the custom of ''burying the 
hatchet " when peace was secured, and of digging 
it up when war was determined upon. 

The Aurora Borealis was believed to be the re- 
flection of the light of the camp-fires in the Happy 
Hunting-Grounds. When its lights were seen it 
was supposed that the brothers who had passed 
into the future were rejoicing over the successful 
termination of some great hunt or participating in a 
feast. The size of a fire that could cast such won- 
derful lights was beyond their comprehension, and 
often the death-song of the warriors and chiefs 
would refer to their hope of soon standing beside 
the fire that was greater than the mountains. It 
was customary for them to stand in the open air 
and make long speeches to the spirits during the 
time the Aurora was to be seen. They would chide 
the spirits for wastefulness in building so large a 
fire and call upon them not to burn all the forests of 
the Great Spirit before their friends on the earth 
were admitted to the charmed circle and permitted 
[172] 



BITS OF FOLK-LORE 



to enjoy the pleasures of a camp-fire of such 
gigantic proportions. 

It was wrong to complain of pain of any kind or 
to show by any act that pain was experienced. 
Both pain and suffering were caused by bad spirits, 
and surely one would not give their enemies the 
pleasure of knowing that their attempts had in any 
manner caused discomfort. The Great Spirit was 
trying with all his power to relieve those who suf- 
fered pain, and to complain when your friend was 
doing his best to aid you would make him think 
that his efforts were not appreciated. Besides this, 
after the first shock of a wound, none of the ani- 
mals betray by their cries the presence of pain. 
The dog will carry a broken leg for days, wistfully 
but uncomplainingly. The cat, stricken with chib 
or stone, or caught in some trap from which it gnaws 
its way to freedom, crawls to some secret place 
and bears its agony in silence. The wolf or bear, 
caught in the pitfalls and pierced with scores of 
stinging arrows, indicate by no outward sign that 
they suffer. The wounded deer speeds to some 
thick brake and in pitiful submission waits for 
death. The eagle, struck by the arrow in mid-air, 
fights to the last against the fatal summons. There 
[173] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

is no moan or sound of pain, and the defiant look 
never fades from its eyes until the lids close over 
them never to uncover again. The Indians learned 
many of their lessons from the animals and were 
taught to be as brave and uncomplaining as their 
brothers of the forests. 



[174] 



The Happ^ Hunting-Grounds 




THE HAPPY HUNTING-GROUNDS 



.THE HAPPY HUNTING-GROUNDS 

|T is hardly possible to define the creed 
of the people comprising the Iroquois, 
for it was so intermingled with curious 
superstitions of every kind that it can- 
not be traced to a continuous doctrine like the re- 
ligions of other peoples. They had no special 
teachers of religion, and the privilege of adding as 
many superstitions as the mind could conceive was 
possessed by each individual member. Thus their 
religious belief was encumbered with almost every 
superstition that could be created in the minds of 
an ignorant and uncivilized people dwelling in wil- 
dernesses filled with numerous wild beasts and 
given over to the undisputed sway of solitude. 

In a general way, however, according to the ex- 
planations made by Cornplanter of the belief enter- 
tained by him, their religion saw God as a great 
and loving spirit whose extended arms bore up and 
encircled the universe. They believed this Great 
Spirit created all the objects, both animate and in- 
animate, upon the earth ; that he smiled upon his 
people in sunshine and shower, and frowned upon 
[177] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

them in fierce storms and whirlwinds. He peopled 
the air with millions of embodied spirits, some of 
which were evil, and unless propitiated caused 
pain, sickness, trouble and death. Others were 
good spirits and aided the hunter in his chase, the 
lover in his suit, and brought male offspring to the 
mother's arms. Finally, he had prepared for them 
a ''Happy Hunting-Ground," where every one 
should go after death. There beautiful birds would 
make resonant the hills and valleys with their en- 
chanting song. The Great Spirit had covered that 
vast and magnificent country with plains, and for- 
ests, and limpid streams, in which and over which 
would sport the red deer, bears, buffaloes, wild 
horses and all animals and fishes useful for clothing 
and food. The good Indian could there reside for- 
ever with his wives and papooses, climbing the 
rugged hills without weariness, sporting in the 
rivers and lakes that never failed to supply an 
abundance of fish — always returning from the 
chase laden with the trophies of his skill. But the 
bad Indian would return from the chase empty- 
handed; he would lose his way and wander in the 
labyrinth of beautiful paths that led him beside 
fields of growing maize which disappeared when 
he attempted to pluck the glistening ears. Then 
[178] 



THE HAPPY HUNTING-GROUNDS 

his more fortunate brothers would take pity upon 
him and lead him to his home, and his punishment 
would be the chagrin he would feel when of neces- 
sity he was compelled to partake of his brother's 
bounty. 

In the beginning, the red men dwelt with the 
Great Spirit in this delightful country, but they 
were so boisterous and full of play that the Great 
Spirit could get no rest on account of their noise. 
Besides this, there were no evil spirits or dangers 
there, and they could not learn to be brave and 
courageous unless they were situated where they 
came in contact with opposition and trouble. So 
the Great Spirit made a large basket in which he 
placed the red men, carefully covering them so 
they could not see the trail by which he took them 
from his home. He brought them to the earth and 
left them with the promise that when they had ac- 
quired bravery and circumspection they should 
again be carried to his home and there dwell for 
" so many moons that all the needles on the great- 
est pine tree would not tell them all." 

The Iroquois held sacred no day on which to 

perform particular religious exercises, but they had 

several annual festivals which were observed with 

regularity for ages, and which are, in a measure, 

[179] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

celebrated by the so-called pagans among the 
Senecas, Onondagas and Tuscaroras at the present 
time. The first of these was the "Maple Dance," 
and exemplified their way of thanking the Great 
Spirit for tempering the wind so that the snows 
would disappear and the sweet waters would flow 
from the sides of the maple trees that abounded in 
the wilderness about their homes. Previous to 
holding this, and all other festivals, the inhabitants 
of each village would meet at the council place for 
what might be termed to-day "a. confession of 
sins"— for such it really was. When all had as- 
sembled, one of the oldest sachems would stand 
before his brethren with a string of white wampum 
in his hands and tell wherein he had sinned accord- 
ing to Indian ethics. When he had concluded, the 
wampum would be passed to another, and so on 
until all had unburdened themselves. The open 
declaration of their misdeeds did not relieve them 
of the consequences of the deeds themselves, but in 
a measure it tempered the punishment. The moral 
code may be briefly summed up as follows : 

It was a sin to neglect the old in any manner, or 
to refuse to share with them the fruits of the chase 
or the products of the fields, and it was especially 
sinful to neglect or disregard aged or infirm parents. 

[ i8o ] 



THE HAPPY HUNTING-GROUNDS 

To speak in derision or slightingly of anyone 
who might be lame, blind, idiotic, insane — crippled 
in any manner or unfortunate in any degree, or to 
refuse them aid or shelter. 

To refuse to share food or shelter with anyone 
who might apply for either, or to fail to care for the 
sick and for orphan children and widows. 

To break any treaty or agreement made at the 
council-fire when the peace-pipe had been smoked, 
or after the parties making the treaty had partaken 
of food together. 

To violate the chastity of any woman. 

To kill animals for any other purpose than for 
food and covering, and for the protection of grow- 
ing crops and human life. 

To tell a falsehood, even though it might be of 
the most innocent character. 

To show cowardice in meeting any kind of 
danger or to shrink from exposure, pain, suffering, 
sickness or death. 

To take human life unless the person killed was 
a member of a tribe with which the Iroquois was 
at war. 

There were no punishments prescribed for break- 
ing any of these or other recognized laws, but the 
person offending by the commission of the greater 
sins was, by common consent and custom, shunned, 
scorned, shamed, neglected, pointed at and ostra- 
cised from all connection whatever with his tribe 
and relatives. This generally resulted in the cul- 

[iSi] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

prit's suicide, which was looked upon as a very 
brave act, and was full reparation for the wrongs 
committed. 

Soon after the "Maple Dance" had been held 
came the ** Planting Festival," which was con- 
ducted as a thank offering to the Great Spirit for 
unfolding the buds upon the trees, decking the 
woods and fields with flowers and warming the 
earth so that it could receive and nourish the seed. 

When the seed had been planted, and upon the 
appearance of the first shoots of corn, the "Hope 
Festival " was held. At this time, as the red men 
circled around the glowing fires, they called upon 
the Great Spirit to protect the seeds that he had 
given life and asked him to bring them to maturity. 
They sprinkled leaves of tobacco upon the fires and 
repeated slow, monotonous chants or prayers that 
had been used by them for unknown generations. 
They asked the Great Spirit to give attention to 
their words arising to him in the smoke and not to 
let his ears become closed that he might not hear. 
They said : 

Thy children thank thee for the life thou hast 

given the dead seeds. Give us a good season that 

our crops may be plentiful. Continue to listen for 

the smoke still rises. Preserve our old men among 

[182] 



THE HAPPY HUNTING-GROUNDS 



us and protect the young. Help us to celebrate 
this festival as did our fathers. 



The *' Green Corn Festival" was held when the 
season had so far advanced that the corn was 
ready to be used as roasting ears. The old women 
decided when this time had come, and none might 
partake of the corn until the festival had proceeded 
to the proper stage. This was a time of returning 
to the Great Spirit their thanks for his goodness, 
and th* festivities lasted several days. They were 
wild and uncouth, of course, but the participants 
had faith that these ceremonies were pleasing to 
the Great Spirit. The revelry was conducted in a 
prescribed form that probably did not change for 
centuries. In the midst of one of the dances pe- 
culiar to the "Green Corn Festival" the oldest 
sachem of the tribe gave utterance to a prayer of 
thanksgiving, which has been translated as follows: 

Great Spirit in the Happy Hunting-Grounds, 
listen to our words. We have assembled to per- 
form a sacred duty as thou hast commanded and 
which has been performed by our fathers since thou 
taught them to observe this festival. We salute 
thee with our thanks that thou hast caused our 
supporters to yield abundant harvest. 

Great Spirit, our words continue to flow towards 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

thee. Preserve us from all danger. Preserve our 
aged men. Preserve our mothers. Preserve our 
warriors. Preserve our children. Preserve our old 
men that they may remember all that thou hast told 
them. Preserve our young men and give them 
strength to celebrate with pleasure thy sacred 
festival. 

Great Spirit, the council of thy people here assem- 
bled, the men and women with many winters on 
their heads, the strong warriors, the women and 
children, unite their voices in thanksgiving to thee. 



The " Harvest Festival" was held a few weeks 
afterwards and was similar in character, though not 
considered of so much importance as the ** Green 
Corn Festival." 

Some time during the winter was held the "White 
Dog Dance." This, however, was not of so 
ancient an origin as the other festivals and was 
probably a superstition promulgated by some of 
the great "medicine men" within the last two 
hundred and fifty years. Evil spirits that might 
have been driven into the houses of the Indians by 
the cold, were induced by various ceremonies to 
enter the body of a white dog or gray fox that was 
led from house to house for that purpose. Then, 
with due ceremony, the animal was killed and the 
bad spirits cremated with the body — the jaws hav- 
[184] 



THE HAPPY HUNTING-GROUNDS 

ing been tied together so that the spirits could not 
escape through its mouth, into which they had 
entered. 

The Indians had numerous other ceremonial 
dances and any number of social dances — more 
than any other race of people, for they had few 
other amusements — but those enumerated above 
were the only strictly religious festivals. These 
were in every sense reverential, devotional and in- 
spired by faith. The red men believed that if they 
observed them according to ancient customs and 
usages it would please the Great Spirit and that he 
would eventually take them all to the Happy Hunt- 
ing-Grounds. While they clearly believed in an 
immortal life and in the resurrection of the body, 
they had no belief whatever in the infliction of 
future punishment, other than that experienced by 
the hunter whose arrows could not procure the 
game he coveted and trailed in the land where 
game abounded forever. 

'^^ad these people, possessing (as they most cer- 
tainly did) a religion combining so many of the 
elements of the Christian religion, been discovered 
by any one of the enlightened nations of the present 
day instead of by the intolerant and greedy bigots 
of four hundred years ago, their history would not 
[185] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

have been written with so many sad scenes for 
illustrations. 

' About the year 1800 a new religion was revealed 
to the members of the Iroquois then residing in 
New York State, and as it is what is now known 
as the Pagan belief, it may be well to describe it 
briefly. At that time there was living on Corn- 
planter Island, in the State of Pennsylvania, a half- 
brother of Cornplanter and Blacksnake by a common 
father — Abeel, the white trader. His name was 
Handsome Lake (Ga-ne-o-di-yo), and he was born 
near the site of the village of Avon, N. Y., in 1735, 
and died in 1815 at Onondaga when on a pastoral 
visit to that nation. His life had been spent mainly 
in dissipation, and in his old age he fell ill and was 
not expected to live from day to day. One night 
he sent his daughter to summon his renowned 
brothers to his bedside, as he was convinced that 
his end was drawing near. His brothers reached 
the house shortly after daylight and found Hand- 
some Lake at some distance from the hut, appar- 
ently dead. They carried him in and had com- 
menced to make preparations for the funeral, when 
suddenly he revived, sat upright and commenced 
to talk very strangely. He recovered rapidly and 
at his urgent request a council of his people was 
[186] 



THE HAPPY HUNTING-GROUNDS 

summoned to meet at Cornplanter, and to this as- 
sembly he revealed all that had befallen him. 

His revelations soon became the religion of the 
Iroquois and may be considered their creed at the 
present time. Handsome Lake journeyed from 
tribe to tribe and taught the new faith till his 
death, fifteen years after. He was regarded as a 
second Hiawatha and had wonderful influence. 
After his death other teachers took his place and 
continued to expound the new faith as nearly as 
possible in the exact words of him to whom it was 
believed to have been first revealed. Unlike modern 
theologians, they made no attempt to put their 
views and ideas ahead of the original revelation, for 
they commenced each new section of the long and 
tedious recital with the words, ''Thus said Hand- 
some Lake," and they followed him as closely as 
possible, both in words and gestures. They did 
not add to or take away — they simply repeated. 
The last great follower of Handsome Lake was his 
grandson (Sase-ha-wa), known to the whites as 
Jimmy Johnson, who died about 1830. About the 
middle of August, 1894, a grand council of the 
chiefs was held at Onondaga, and on that occasion 
these traditions were revived, several days being 
spent in the work. 

[187] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

Stripped of long explanations as to how the mes- 
sage was told and the details of the various provis- 
ions and requirements, the creed of Handsome Lake 
was as follows : 

As he lay in his cabin looking out of the window 
at the stars, momentarily expecting death, three 
beautiful men came to his couch and gave him some 
berries to eat, which threw him into a deep sleep. 
When he awoke he was told by one of the men 
that he might live if he would throughout the re- 
mainder of his life be a teacher of his people and 
speak to them the words that the Great Spirit put 
into his mouth. He promised to do this and im- 
mediately became strong. Then the men con- 
ducted him to the outer air, where he was found by 
his brothers, and, after showing him many won- 
derful things concerning the Happy Hunting- 
Grounds, again threw him into a sleep and disap- 
peared. When he taught he closed his eyes and 
spoke only the words put into his mouth by the 
Great Spirit; therefore, whatever he told them was 
inspired. The doctrines expounded by him did 
not displace any of the old ceremonies so dear to 
the heart of the Iroquois. In fact, he urged the ob- 
servance of all the religious dances, saying they 
were pleasing to the Creator. His first efforts were 
[188] 



THE HAPPY HUNTING-GROUNDS 

directed toward the eradication of intemperance, 
and here entered the first threat of future punish- 
ment in the creed of the Iroquois. A drunkard was 
promised boiling hot liquor, which he must drink 
in great quantities. When he had drunk until he 
could hold no more, streams of fire would issue 
from his mouth and he would be commanded to 
sing as he had done on earth after drinking the fire- 
water. Husbands and wives who had been quar- 
relsome on earth were to be compelled to rage at 
each other till their eyes and tongues ran out so far 
they could neither see nor speak. A wife-beater 
would be repeatedly led before a red-hot statue 
which he would be told to strike as he struck his 
wife upon earth, and when the blow fell, molten 
sparks would fly from the image and burn his 
arm to the bone. Lazy people were compelled 
to till cornfields in a burning sun, and as fast 
as the weeds were struck down they would again 
spring up with renewed luxuriance. Those who 
sold the lands of their people to the whites were 
assigned to the task of removing a never-diminish- 
ing pile of sand, one grain at a time, over a vast 
distance. 

These are but samples of the terrible punishments 
to be dealt out to evil-doers of all kinds. 
[1S9] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

At the same time he taught that rewards would 
be freely bestowed to those who kept the laws laid 
down by the Great Spirit, and into these laws as 
revealed by Handsome Lake, with many ftmciful 
and poetical imaginings that pleased the simple 
people to whom he taught, he wove the Ten Com- 
mandments. He taught morality, temperance, 
patience, forbearance, charity, forgiveness, and all 
the cardinal virtues. 

Handsome Lake implicitly believed that the vis- 
ion he described was a direct visitation from the 
Creator, and he also believed that in his teachings 
he was simply giving voice to the wishes of that 
Creator. There is little doubt that he exerted a 
decided influence for good, as did also his followers 
for many years after his death ; but when sects and 
denominations commenced to tumble over each 
other in their zeal to '' Christianize the Iroquois," 
and hair-splitting questions of theology were put 
forward to confuse and confound the teachings of 
the prophet of their own blood, the Indians began 
to doubt all that had been told them in the past 
and their ears were stopped to all that might be 
preached to them in the future. It may be truth- 
fully stated that few Indians have at present any 
well-grounded religious belief, yet if they were not 
[ 190] 



THE HAPPY HUNTING-GROUNDS 

fearful that it would cause them to be subjected to 
further legal restrictions they would be well pleased 
to return once more to the free enjoyment of 
the teachings of Handsome Lake, their greatest 
prophet. 



1 191] 




THE SACRED STONE OF THE ONEIDAS 



THE SACRED STONE OF THE 
ONEIDAS 

|N Forest Hill Cemetery, at Utica, New 
York, a short distance from the en- 
trance, may be seen what is probably 
the most interesting historical relic of 
the Iroquois — the Sacred Stone of the Oneida In- 
dians. The legend connected with this monument 
is as strange and poetic as any of those given in 
the preceding pages, and quite naturally should 
have a place in this volume. The story was ob- 
tained from the Indians by the late William Tracy 
before their removal to Green Bay, Wisconsin, and 
as told by him and by contemporary writers is as 
follows : 

' Two brothers and their families left the Onon- 
dagas and erected their wigwams on the north 
shore of the Oneida River, at the outlet of the lake 
bearing that name. They kept the celebrations 
commanded by the Great Spirit and he was pleased 
with their obedience. One morning there appeared 
at their resting place an oblong stone, unlike any of 
[195] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

the rocks in the vicinity, and the Indians were told 
that from it their name should be taken, and that it 
would for all time be the altar around which their 
councils and their festive and religious ceremonies 
should take place, as it would follow them wher- 
ever they should go. So they took the name of 
"The People of the Upright Stone," and kept their 
home beside this altar many years. But finally 
they became so numerous that there was not room 
for them here, and they builded their chief village 
upon the south side of the lake, where a creek 
bearing the same name discharges its waters. True 
to the promise, and unassisted by human hands, 
the sacred stone followed and located once more 
in the midst of them. 

Here the Oneidas flourished till the confederation 
of the Iroquois was formed, and they became 
second in the order of precedence in the confeder- 
acy. After many years it was determined by the 
chief men of the nation to remove their council-fire 
to the summit of one of a chain of hills about twenty 
miles distant — a commanding point before which is 
spread a broad view of the fertile Stockbridge val- 
ley. And when the council of the nation had 
selected this new home for its people, the sacred 
stone once more followed in the train of its children. 
[196] 



THE SACRED STONE OF THE ONEIDAS 

It rested in a grove of butternut trees, from beneath 
whose branches the eye could look out upon a 
landscape not equaled elsewhere in their national 
domain. Here it remained to see the Iroquois in- 
crease in power and importance until the name 
struck terror to their foes from the Hudson to the 
Father of Waters. Around this unhewn altar, 
within its leafy temple was gathered all the wisdom 
of the nation when measures affecting its welfare 
were to be considered. Their eloquence, as effect- 
ive and beautiful as ever fell from Greek or Roman 
lips, was poured forth upon the ears of the sons 
and daughters of the forest. Logan, the white 
man's friend, was there trained to utter words that 
burned, and there Sconondoa, the last orator of his 
race, the warrior chief and lowly Christian convert, 
with matchless power swayed the hearts of his 
countrymen; there the sacred rites were celebrated 
at the return of each harvest moon and each new 
year^ when every son and daughter of the stone 
came up like the Jewish tribes of old to join in the 
national festivities. 

This was the resting place of the stone when the 

first news came that the paleface had come from 

beyond the bitter waters. It remained to see him 

penetrate the forest and come among its children a 

[197] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

stranger; to see him welcomed by the red men to a 
home, and then to see its red children shrink and 
wither away until the white man's sons plowed 
the fields beneath whose forest coverings slept 
many generations. 

At length the council-fire of the Oneidas was ex- 
tinguished; its people were scattered, and there 
was no new resting place for them to which this 
palladium might betake itself and again become 
their altar. It was a stranger in the ancient home 
of its children, an exile upon its own soil. 

It was known to several of the trustees of the 
Forest Hill Cemetery Association that when the 
Oneidas removed to Green Bay and broke up their 
tribal relations they were very loath to leave their 
altar unprotected, and when the association was 
formed in the spring of 1849, correspondence was 
had with some of the head men of the nation, and 
consultations were held with the few remaining in 
the vicinity of their old home. They were most 
desirous that the stone should be protected, and 
were happy in the prospect of its removal to some 
place where it would remain secure from the con- 
tingencies and dangers to which it might be ex- 
posed in a private holding, liable to constant change 
[198] 



THE SACRED STONE OF THE ONEIDAS 

of owners. With the consent of the owner of the 
farm upon which it was located, the huge boulder 
was carefully loaded upon a wagon drawn by four 
horses, and in the autumn of 1849, accompanied by 
a delegation of Oneida Indians and two of the 
trustees of the cemetery association, it was conveyed 
with considerable difficulty to its present site. It is 
said by some who remember the occasion, that be- 
fore the Indians departed from the cemetery, they 
assembled around the stone and betrayed in their 
leave-taking pitiful manifestations of grief, several 
of them kneeling beside the boulder and kiss- 
ing it. 

Here this mass of white granite, which is unlike 
any of the stones or rocks to be found south of the 
northern dip of the Adirondacks, or the granite hills 
of Vermont and New Hampshire, remained on a 
grassy mound a half century. Its weight is esti- 
mated to be about four thousand pounds. In the 
spring of 1902 the cemetery authorities caused it to 
be placed upon a base of Westerly marble, upon 
one side of which is fixed a bronze tablet bearing 
this inscription: 



[199] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 



SACRED STONE OF THE 
ONEIDA INDIANS 



THIS STONE WAS THE NATIONAL 
ALTAR OF THE ONEIDA INDIANS, 
AROUND WHICH THEY GATHERED 
FROM YEAR TO YEAR TO CELE- 
BRATE SOLEMN RELIGIOUS RITES AND 
TO WORSHIP THE GREAT SPIRIT. 
THEY WERE KNOWN AS THE TRIBE 
OF THE UPRIGHT STONE. THIS VAL- 
UABLE HISTORICAL RELIC WAS 
BROUGHT HERE FROM STOCKBRIDGE, 
MADISON COUNTY, N. Y., IN 1 849. 

Many times during the first twenty-five or thirty 
years after the sacred stone was deposited upon 
Forest Hill it was visited by members of its tribe; 
and even now at occasional intervals the cemetery 
employees see the figure of an Indian passing along 
the graveled paths to pause beside this sole remain- 
ing monument of a broken race. 

It is pleasing to know that this granite boulder 
will here forever remain, a memorial to a people 
celebrated for their savage virtues, and who were 
[ 200 ] 



THE SACRED STONE OF THE ONEIDAS 

once by no means obscure actors in some of the 
stirring passages of our country's history; a people 
who were happy in their homes and who loved 
these fertile hills and valleys as we love them, but 
of whose ownership and sovereignty, whose teem- 
ing life and undisputed sway, there remains only 
this mute, unembellished monument. 

Truthfully it may be said: " He-o-weh-go-gek" 
— once a home, now a memory. 



[20I ] 



Notes to the Legends 



NOTES TO THE LEGENDS 



NOTES TO THE LEGENDS 

The Confederation of the Iroquois, Page 23. — When the 
Europeans discovered North America they found that portion of the 
continent lying east of a line about as far west as the city of 
Cleveland, Ohio, and from the great lakes on the north to the 
Chesapeake Bay on the south, practically under the control of a 
confederacy of tribes, to which the French in after years applied the 
term Iroquois, and which the English called the Five Nations. 
This confederacy was composed of the Senecas, Mohawks, Onon- 
dagas, Oneidas and Cayugas. In the year 1712 the Tuscaroras, a 
tribe previously located in North Carolina, were defeated in a war 
with their white neighbors, and about one thousand eight hundred 
of them fled to what is now New York State, then the actual 
dwelling place of most of the Iroquois, and were adopted into the 
confederacy. The new tribe did not possess the energy and cour- 
age of their associates, and for several years after their coming the 
men wore the tobacco pouches of the women, thus acknowledging 
upon all occasions that they were inferior to the other five nations 
comprising the union which had become their protectors. After 
the coming of the Tuscaroras the confederacy was known as the 
Six Nations of Indians — a designation which is often used at the 
present time in law in matters pertaining to the Indians of New 
York State. 

The date of the formation of this confederacy has never been 
stttlcd with any degree of certainty, and all attempts have ended 
in mere conjecture and speculation. The most authentic tradition 
heretofore published places the date about the year 1589, but there 
is no positive proof that this date is accurate. The legend of its 
(205] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

formation here published is not only based upon what was con- 
sidered reliable authority by Cornplanter, but has also the sanction 
of that other noted Seneca chief, Governor Blacksnake (the Nephew) , 
who was contemporaneous with Cornplanter, and who was prob- 
ably born about the year 1736 and died in 1859, at the supposed 
age ot one hundred and twenty-three years. These chiefs both 
claimed to have seen a string of wampum in their early years that 
placed the formation of the confederacy at a time when there 
occurred a total eclipse of the sun — " a darkening of the Great 
Spirit's smiling face " — that took place when the corn was receiving 
its last tillage, long before events that could be reliably ascribed to 
the year 1 540. 

At this point it will be well to say that the Indians possessed 
strings of wampum which actually recorded historical events. They 
were made upon the skins of some animal and were formed of 
small pieces of bone, variously shaped and colored, small stones, 
and a variety of small shells, quills and sometimes the teeth or 
claws of animals. These were strung upon the tanned skin by 
piercing holes through them and tying them securely with sinews. 
Certain ones in the tribe were selected as keepers of the wampum 
and it was their duty to store all necessary facts in their memory 
and associate with them the successive lines and arrangement of the 
stones, shells, quills, etc., so that they could be readily called to 
mind. At general councils these records were brought before the 
people and solemnly expounded. As these people possessed re- 
markable memories, the meaning of the wampum string was 
accurately carried down from generation to generation. 

The place of holding the council thai formed the confederacy has 

also been the subject of some dispute, but it is pretty certain that 

it was near the northern end of either Seneca or Cayuga Lake, and 

that it took place in that year previous to 1 540 in which occurred 

[206] 



NOTES TO THE LEGENDS 

an eclipse of the sun in the month when the corn receives its last 
tilling. 

Professor Lewis Swift, of the Warner Observatory, Rochester, 
kindly furnished the following table of dates: 

Annular Eclip«e - - - October ii, 1520 

Annular Eclipse - - _ May 8, 1491 

Total Eclipse - - - - July 29, 1478 

Total Eclipse _ - _ - June 28, 1451 

Annular Eclipse - - - - April 26, 1427 

The first given, October, 1520, is out o\ the question, as the 
corn would have been harvested at that time of year. 

The second, May, 1491, would have been too early in the season 
to comply with the conditions of the wampum record, for the corn 
would hardly have made its appearance above the ground as early 
as the 8th of May. 

The third, the last of July, 1478, will not answer the account 
given, for the ears of the maize would have been forming at that 
time and the plant would have passed its period of tillage. 

The fourth date, June 28, 1451, must, therefore, have been the 
one upon which the confederation took place, as at that time of 
the year the corn in Central New York is about ready for its final 
tilling. 

Upon the authority of these two chiefs it is not difficult to believe 
that this date is historically coirect and that the incident related in 
the legend was the occasion upon which this wonderful union of 
republics was formed. Considered as a government formed by a 
savage people, the confederation of the Iroquois certainly was a 
wonderful union. Had it not been broken and destroyed by the 
whites after a series of wars extending over two centuries and cul- 
minating in the great village-burning expedition of Sullivan in 
[207 ] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

1779, this confederacy would have made rapid progress in 
civilization. 

Among the Five Nations alone can be found the Indian of the 
novelist and poet. The Iroquois stand out and above all other 
aboriginal inhabitants in their intelligence, their oratory, their friend- 
ship and their character. Had they been treated with fairness; 
had they not been made the subjects of the most cruel wrongs and 
deceptions; had they not been driven to retaliation and finally to 
relentless slaughter, the pages of our histories would doubtless have 
recorded of this people achievements of which any nation might be 
proud. 

A Legend of the River, Page 47. — This story was told of the 
Genesee River and Falls, and is occasionally heard among the older 
Senecas at the present time. It is said that one family of the Sen- 
ecas were very much opposed to signing the treaty that surrendered 
the territory surrounding the scene of this legend. They claimed 
to be descendants of Tonadahwa and her brave rescuer, and be- 
lieved that the spirits of their dead ancestors often visited the scene 
of their adventure and upon this spot plighted anew their troth. 
There is little doubt that this story, in the main, is true, and that a 
young Indian and a maiden, whom he was trying to rescue from a 
warrior of another tribe, were almost miraculously preserved alive 
after being carried over the Genesee Falls in a canoe. This legend 
has been put forth in various ways, one of which was that the 
Indians living near Niagara Falls were accustomed to sacrifice an- 
nually to the spirit of the Falls by sending the fairest maiden of the 
tribe over the precipice in a white birch canoe, decked with fruits 
and flowers. Frequently male relatives or lovers are said to have 
accompanied or followed victims who were set apart for this sacri- 
fice. If this is so it must have been a practice of some other tribe 
[208] 



NOTES TO THE LEGENDS 

than those composing the Iroquois, for the Iroquoan tribes did not 
practice customs which called for the sacrifice of human life, unless 
the sacrifice was self-imposed. 

Legends of the Corn, Page 51. — Corn^ or maize, was the 
chief food of the Indians and consequently there were many legends 
concerning its origin. The two here given were looked upon as the 
oldest. The Indians had a firm belief that it was possible to change 
one's form, unless the one desiring the change was unfortunate 
enough to be under the influence of some evil spirit that out of 
malice prevented the transformation. The Indian women were 
especially proud of the legend attributing the origin of the maize to 
the frightened maiden fleeing from her lover, and it was told to 
their daughters very often and with many extravagant embel- 
lishments. 

The First Winter, Page 55. — The Indians were taught never 
to speak ill of any of the celestial bodies or of the works of nature. 
They must never complain of the glare and heat of the sun, lest 
they be stricken blind ; nor must they complain of the clouds for 
fear that they might be shut up in caves in the mountains where no 
light could enter. The moon must be treated with the same re- 
spect and consideration, for those who said aught against her were 
in imminent danger of death by a fall of rocks from the sky. The 
most severe storms of wind, snow, frost or hail must be treated 
only with great respect. Those who complained about them were 
by this act unarmed and could not resist their attacks and rigors. 
In fact, they were taught to "take the bitter with the sweet" 
without making wry faces. This training through long generations 
rendered the race cold and stoical, apparently indifferent to suffer- 
ing. They probably suffered the same as others, but they bore it 
[ 209] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

without a sign. This legend was a very common one and was 
frequently told the young in order that the lesson might be deeply 
impressed upon them that they should never set themselves up in 
opposition to trie Great Spirit or complain of the enforcement of 
his laws. 

The Story of Oniata, Page 6^. — Cornplanter held that there 
were many traditions among the Indians that in one way or another 
mentioned persons who were described as white; and this, too, 
long before the coming of the Europeans. One tradition was to 
the effect that thousands of years ago, away off to the southwest, 
there was a tribe of Indians in which were born several children 
who were made " like the Great Spirit, with faces as the sun." 
They were said to be very proud of the distinction and also to have 
been great warriors. They were believed to have wandered to the 
south and finally to have been lost in the mountains. After the 
coming of the Europeans this tradition was revived, and the ever- 
ready imagination of the Indians added a sequel to the disappear- 
ance of the "white Indians." They said the whites had gone 
across the bitter lake (the ocean) and founded the nations of the 
pale faces and were now returning to conquer and subdue their 
forefathers. It was Cornplanter's belief that this was the older 
continent and that the Indian was nearest the original creation. He 
did not believe these traditional white people were as white as the 
English. They possessed all the Indian features, he said, but had 
light-colored skins and light hair. 

Since this volume was made ready for publication the author 
found in a Western newspaper an account of the return from New 
Mexico of a Mr. Williamson, who had been spending some months 
in an out-of-the-way place in that territory among the Moqui 
Indians. Mr. Williamson told an interesting story about a family 

[2IO] 



NOTES TO THE LEGENDS 

of that tribe the members of which are white. He saw these 
people and asserts there is no doubt as to their color. He also says 
they are without doubt pure Indians and that they have none of 
the characteristics of the Albinos often seen among the Negroes. 
The family is known far and wide among the Indians themselves, 
but as their place of residence is some distance from the usual routes 
traveled by white men, they are rarely seen by others than the race 
to which they belong. The Indians look upon them as something 
holier than the rest of the tribe, and hence do not talk about them 
to outsiders. The narrator stated that the head man of the family 
says that there is a tradition among them that they originally came 
from the north and settled among the Moqui people, where they 
have been so long that they have lost all knowledge of the northern 
tribe and were not certain that they now spoke the language of 
their progenitors. When any of the Moqui married into the family, 
their children were always white. This discovery, if true — and 
there seems no reason for such a statement unless it be true — is 
interesting in this connection and may be looked upon by some 
as a proof of the claim that about the year A. D. 400 a race of 
white people occupied the territory bordering the southern shores 
of the great lakes, and that they were driven away by red men 
who came from still further north. Of course this is speculation 
and will probably remain a mystery as long as the world stands. 

The Buzzard's Covering, Page 77. — This legend regarding 
the buzzard's plumage was often told by the Indians to illustrate 
the failure of some one of their number to win success in marriage 
or upon the chase. " We wear the turkey buzzard's feathers," 
said one of the Sioux chiefs a few years ago when making complaint 
to a Congressional committee. Few of those who heard him under- 
stood the metaphor and the supposition was that he referred to th« 
[211] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

plainness of his clothing compared with that of the politicians who 
met him. This expression coming from a Sioux chief proves that 
at least some of the legends common among the Iroquois centuries 
ago can be traced among the tribes of the West at the present 
time. A white man to convey the same meaning would say, "We 
have the worst end of the bargain," or, " We have only a crooked 
stick at last. " 

Origin of the Violet, Page 8i. — The Indian term for the 
violet is '^ heads entangled.'' This is not one of the legends told 
by Cornplanter. It was told the author by a Seneca Indian named 
Simon Blackchief. Afterwards the authenticity of the legend was 
confirmed by inquiries among other members of the Seneca Nation. 

The Turtle Clan, Page 85. — Of the various clans existing 
among the Iroquois the Turtle was probably the most respected. 
The families belonging to the Turtles were in reality the Freemasons 
of those days and to them were accorded the highest honors. At 
the council-fires the wisdom of the Turtles was displayed in coun- 
selling unity of action. Their opinions were almost always ac- 
cepted without discussion. 

The Healing Waters, Page 89. — The Indians possessed for 
many years a knowledge of the curative properties of the mineral 
springs of this country and held the waters in the highest venera- 
tion. Their faith in them was so great that some did not hesitate 
to declare that the waters would cure all ills. Another spring that 
they held in high reverence was an oil spring situated in Allegany 
County, New York State, near the Pennsylvania line. The water 
of this spring is covered with a thick substance that was formerly 
collected by the Indians by conducting the water into pools and 
[ 212 ] 



NOTES TO THE LEGENDS 

skimming the surface with flat stones or the branches of trees. The 
oil thus collected was used to mix with various substances to form 
war paint, but more especially as a healing salve for various 
wounds. The Indians knew of its existence for many centuries, 
and there were few days in summer when bands of Indians were 
not in that vicinity gathering the oil, which they evaporated by 
exposure to the sun and then stored in rawhide or earthen vessels 
for future use. Years ago the spring and a plot of ground one mile 
square was set aside as a reservation, and it is still held as such. A 
curious fact in this connection is that the oil from the spring was 
vaseline in its crude state, and the same substance is now ex- 
tensively secured from petroleum oil wells in that vicinity. 

The Message Bearers, Page 119. — The belief of the Indians 
that the echoes they heard among the mountains and forests were 
spirits who repeated from one to another the words spoken by the 
men and women until the words reached Heaven itself, is almost 
too beautiful to be destroyed by the cold facts of science. There 
is something about their theory that appeals very strongly to all 
and makes us wish that we, like the Indians of a thousand years 
ago^ could believe that our prayers, if spoken boldly, would be 
caught from our lips by waiting and listening spirits and carried to 
" the tent of the Great Spirit." 

It was customary for them to frequent rivers with high wooded 
banks, or to seek ravines with precipitous sides where reverbera- 
tions could be heard for miles, until they would die away in the 
distance. ' Here they would stand for hours, shouting and listening 
as the echoing shouts leaped from shore to shore, or from hill to 
mountain and from mountain to valley — on and on into silence; 
always firmly believing that the words were called from one to 
another of the faithful spirits until they reached the ears of their 
[213] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

loved ones and finally the Great Spirit himselt. This custom was 
practiced among the Senecas less than one hundred years ago, and 
there are now living men who have been present on occasions 
when nearly the whole tribe participated in an event of this char- 
acter. This belief was doubtless the origin of the " death shout " 
that Indian warriors are said to make when mortally wounded upon 
the battle field. The cry is sent forth by the dying warrior to let 
the friends whom he would meet in heaven know that he has 
started on the long journey. 

The Hunter, Page 129. — This legend is one of the many relat- 
ing the origin of the " medicine compound.'' When the rejoicing 
over the return to life of Kanistigia had ceased, the bear and fox 
took him aside and imparted the secret of the mysterious com- 
pound which had mended his wounded head when once the scalp 
had been restored. There has always been a great deal of mystery, 
and something of superstition, concerning " Indian medicines," and 
quack nostrums have been eagerly sought by people of these later 
years simply because they were labeled with Indian names and 
ascribed to Indian origin. The fact is the Indians were poor doc- 
tors. They knew the virtue of catnip, peppermint, pennyroyal, 
and a few simple herbs of like nature. They knew that lobelia 
would act as an emetic and throw poisons from the stomach. 
They found that a salve made from the inner bark of the slippery 
elm and elder would heal wounds. While they had an infinite 
variety of so-called " medicines," their cures were generally effected 
through faith and good constitutions, aided by a liberal use of cold 
water. They lived out of doors during the greater part of their lives, 
and to this, more than to their knowledge of cures, may be 
ascribed their longevity. 

The secret of their " great medicine " was imparted to but few, 
[214] 



NOTES TO THE LEGENDS 

and the formula here given was told the author by one of the older 
Jimmersons, a resident of the Seneca Reservation: Each year before 
the coming of the frosts a meeting of the chiefs v^as held in one of 
the largest wigwams. Those entitled to attend could not enter the 
wigwam before dark. Each one brought with him several of the 
rarest herbs, roots, branches of trees or fruits of which he had 
knowledge, and often hundreds of miles had been traversed in the 
search for some particularly scarce product. These^ with a few 
simple, fragrant herbs and a certain proportion of dry corn and 
beans, were pounded into a pulpy mass. Each one present 
assumed the character of some bird or animal, and they often 
masqueraded to carry out the role. No words passed between 
them, but a continual din was kept up as each one sounded the 
cries of the bird or animal he represented. One would bark like a 
fox, another caw like a crow, a third would growl like a bear, the 
fourth, fifth and sixth chatter like squirrels, raccoons or ground- 
hogs. Another would scream like a hawk, while others would 
imitate the wild turkey, geese, ducks, etc. They worked rapidly, 
for they must complete their task before the break of day. If one 
closed his eyes in sleep, it was a sure sign that the plague would 
come upon the tribe. At daylight the compound was divided, 
carefully bestowed in panther skin pouches, and carried away for 
future use. 

The manner of administering it was as curious as its manufacture. 
Water was dipped from a running stream in a wooden vessel. 
Care was taken to dip with the current — never against it. When 
the water in the vessel had become absolutely quiet, three small 
portions of the powder were carefully dropped on its surface in the 
form of a triangle. If the powder spread over the surface of the 
water, as dust often will, the patient hastily gulped down the dose 
and got well. If the powder sank to the bottom without spread- 
[215] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

ing over the surface, the medicine man quickly departed with his 
potion and no further effort was made to save the patient's life. 

Hiawatha, Page 137. — This version of Hiawatha follows as 
closely as it is possible to translate into English the legend as told 
by Governor Blacksnake (The Nephew) . This aged Seneca chief 
was contemporaneous with Cornplanter, and died December 26, 
1 859, at the age of 1 1 7 or 120 years. He was a very intelligent 
man, possessing all the nobler traits of his race and very few, if 
any, of the baser ones. He possessed the confidence and esteem 
of Washington, and to the day of his death wore upon a thong 
around his neck a silver medal given him by Washington. He also 
constantly carried a little leathern pouch containing a pass written 
and signed by Washington's own hand. 

It is believed that many will be pleased to read in prose the 
beautiful story that Longfellow has immortalized in verse, and into 
which he wove many other curious legends to make the story 
complete. The form of the tradition here given is believed to be 
the purest one extant. Its narrator repeated it frequently to 
assemblages of the Senecas up to a few months prior to his 
death, and as here given follows the story precisely as it came from 
Blacksnake's own lips. 

This legendary account of the formation of the confederacy of 
the Iroquois differs materially from the historical account as given 
by Cornplanter. The story of Hiawatha was believed by Corn- 
planter as implicitly as any Christian believes the Bible. But he 
said this happened so many years ago, when everything was 
spiritual and supernatural, that the Five Nations in time came to 
look upon it as something that was not binding upon them. By 
degrees they drifted away and were estranged, and the council-fire 
combined and lighted by Hiawatha at that time was permitted to 
[216] 



NOTES TO THE LEGENDS 

go out — that Is^ each tribe held its separate council. After the 
second reunion of the tribes (see note and legend " The Confedera- 
tion of the Iroquois") the council was again established at Onon- 
daga, and the great council-fire was relighted on the spot hallowed 
by the presence of their wisest leader. It is also interesting to note 
that the councils of the Iroquois were held at Onondaga until Janu- 
ary 1 8, 1777. In the War of the Revolution the Mohawks, 
Onondagas, Senecas and Cayugas favored the English. The Mo- 
hawks went to Canada and never returned, save as foes^ till after 
peace was declared, and the other tribes named lent the English 
much assistance. The Oneidas and Tuscaroras remained neutral^ 
but really aided the Colonists. On the 19th of January, 1777, a 
delegation of Oneida Indians visited Fort Stanwix (now Rome) , 
and told the commanding officer that the council-fire of the Iroquois 
at Onondaga had the previous day been extinguished for all time. 
What was probably the oldest confederacy in the world died in the 
very infancy of American Independence. . 

The Peacemaker, Page 149. — The location of this " City of 
Refuge " will, of course, never be known, and all that can be said 
about it must be simply speculation. It seems reasonable to sup- 
pose that it was located in a somewhat central position ; where it 
would be most convenient to all the tribes. From the fact that 
Genetaska and her lover went southward to a river and took a 
canoe to complete their wedding trip, it is believed that Kienuka 
was situated in one of the three valleys in the central part of the 
State of New York, drained respectively by the Tioughnioga, the 
Chenango or the Unadilla rivers. The eloping couple are said to 
have been the progenitors of a very intelligent tribe on Chesapeake 
Bay, and probably reached their home by way of the Susquehanna 
River. Elias Johnson, a Tuscarora Indian, gives a somewhat differ- 
[217] 



THE LEGENDS OF THE IROQUOIS 

ent version of this legend, and says that Kienuka was located four 
miles eastward of the inlet of the Niagara gorge at Lewiston. 
Although Mr. Johnson is possessed of much information as to the 
early legends of his people, it is probable that he has erred in the 
location of the peace-home. The location he points out would 
have been manifestly unfair to the Mohawks and Oneidas, and, in- 
deed, it would have been very difficult of access to all the tribes, 
for even the Senecas (the westernmost tribe) would have had to 
make a journey of nearly a hundred miles to have gotten within 
the sacred walls. 

Wherever it was, Kienuka was a veritable " City of Refuge." 
Its queen was chosen as indicated in the legend and her word be- 
came law. There was absolutely no appeal from it. With three 
or four retainers, who must be old women, she was supported by 
all the tribes, and great quantities of food were stored at the retreat 
for the relief of those who came there in distress. This must be 
ready at all times for those who might be in want. Disputes were 
not tolerated in the presence of the Peacemaker and would have 
been punished by death if reported to the council. Every one who 
reached the charmed circle was safe from molestation until the 
Peacemaker had delivered her sentence. If for some offence the 
refugee should be adjudged guilty of a crime punishable by death, 
he must be taken far from the peace-home before the sentence 
could be executed, for the shedding of blood within its pale was 
strictly forbidden. For this reason, when deserted by Genetaska, 
whose vows were forgotten in the love she bore the young Oneida, 
Kienuka became the scene of bloodshed, and it was afterwards 
shunned^ accursed and desolated. 

Six hundred years elapsed after the occurrence of this romantic 
incident before the office of Queen Peacemaker was again filled. 
The shock the Indians felt over the betrayal of such a high trust as 
[218] 



NOTES TO THE LEGENDS 

that imposed in Genetaska led them to practically abolish the 
venerated custom. In 1878 they bestowed the honor upon Caro- 
line Parker, a sister of General Eli S. Parker, a former member of 
General Grant's staff. She was a resident of the Tuscarora Reserva- 
tion, and afterwards became the wife of John Mountpleasant. She 
is possessed of a comfortable home and a fortune of moderate size. 
She is a woman of education and refinement, and is in all respects 
an ideal Peacemaker, Her home is ever open to the poor, dis- 
tressed and needy ; her heart is moved by pity at every sign of 
suffering; her sound judgment and fine sensibilities render her a 
most valuable friend and counsellor. 

An Unwelcome Visitor, Page 155. — This legend was as common 
am.ong the Indians as are the parables of the Prodigal Son or the 
Good Samaritan among Christians. It was told to the young very 
impressively and often, that they might learn by its teachings never 
to refuse welcome and shelter to a stranger, no matter what his 
condition, even though he be covered with the awful pustules of 
smallpox, with which the visitor in the legend is supposed to have 
been suffering. If they should refuse shelter, they might be^ una- 
wares, turning " good medicine " from the door. This is also one 
of the legends explaining the origin of the knowledge possessed by 
the Indians of the curative properties of plants and roots. Unfor- 
tunately the name of the benefactress of their race who figures in 
the legend has been lost, but in all tribes and clans there have 
been noted Sagawahs who were supposed to be her descendants. 
As no one could enter the Happy Hunting-Grounds except through 
the gate of death, the Great Spirit's messenger, who had gone 
through much suffering for the welfare of the red men, brought 
upon himself the "fatal disease" — consumption — for which the 
Indians had no remedv. 

L 219] 



bt^ 



1.6. 






\,^' 






J"' 






<(r0: ^^ \ 



-$'. ^c^ 



C , *•. .„:,/'^^;. 






,^" "^^ 






^ 

^ ^^^ 



1 









'^: ,0v^, >-^^:= 









I -' 


/' 


' /.;, 






y^i » 


^0 


\, 


s^ .... % 



.^. ^^ 



■>' 






,9^" ;>^||/^;» \^-i 



..s^'^- 



,0^ . 



3" 



•*b V* !\, 



v^\. 






"-0 






.4 ^^ 



^ .^"^ .^^^^ 







'4\y ^ '^ 






-^' 



.♦^ 






■<it>6 ■ 



.'^"^ .^rA^^/U- ^. V 







\ 


/ 






< 




c^' 




.^.^^;~ 


:/: 


.%. 


%/ 






..^^ 




^f^^ 




O 'o • . 








•^^ 








o 








^ 


^■" 



,<;." ,'>^^'. 







■'•"'V^. 





^^ v"^ °V?^ 







^X. 


U 


,A^' 


,'^ 


^ 


y 








,c. 








^' 


•y^ 






<y 


'o. 




"V- 



i^° 



\.^" 



i0 






A 



<*. 



';*'^%i5^^'^ ^v 






-^^ '^'^ ' . o « c , ^^<^ 



DOEBS BROS. ^ ^^^ 

.lORA.lY EiNDINO ^^ A. 

J.AN 70 j?;-^ -/- 

>T. AUGUSTINE ^ 







•^^0^ .- 






■/ .:^M^. 



